


Elise & Arion: A Soul Mate Project File

by DragonDreads



Series: Soul Mate Project Files [3]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Adult Content, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, No Keprals, Non-Canon Relationship, Slow Burn, Xenophilia, mature language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2020-09-13
Packaged: 2020-10-06 14:40:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 52,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20508677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonDreads/pseuds/DragonDreads
Summary: The Ariki of the Drell Conclave of Kahje announced her people were joining the Soul Mate Project’s database.Arion is one of the first Drell males to be added to it after an accusation of being an inferior breeder.Elise was more comfortable around her flowers than around people.Everything changed for them both when packets with the words Soul Mate Project-Prospective Match shining in blue lettering were handed to them.Prospective Soul Mates:Elise LaRueArion





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hope someone enjoys this new couple. This one has a happy ending. It is also a much longer story than the others. This one includes not only the drell becoming part of the Project, but introduces the next couple and one other person as well. No, I won't be telling you who they are. You'll also see where I'm tying the previous stories in with this one and the three yet to come.
> 
> *~*
> 
> Bioware owns all of the Mass Effect Universe, not limited to recognizable characters and locations.  
Any original characters are my own. There is no monetary gain from this work. All I am doing is playing around with the game setting and its characters.  
Please do not use my original characters in a different story unless permission is asked for and received.
> 
> *~* Notice*~*
> 
> I post only on Archive of Our Own or my personal blog. If you see this story on a different site it has been stolen. See Author’s Notes for any translation exceptions.

* * *

Outside the window, the rain poured down in great sheets from a steel-gray sky. On Kahje it always rained, so the sight was nothing new to the female drell as she stood looking out the window.

Ariki Eudora glanced once more at the datapad in her hand. It contained the preliminary agreement between the Soul Mate Project and the Drell Conclave of Kahje which she had prepared.

Her people were few, their population unbalanced. For many generations, the drell females have produced considerably more males than females. War, greed, overpopulation, and unchecked industrialization led to the ruination of their original homeworld. At the time, their society was Patriarchal; the males war-like.

The males didn’t even consider their females as second-class citizens. They had no rights, no safety. Only objects used for constant breeding which led to the deaths of many young females.

When it became apparent their world was doomed and their species headed for a mass extinction, the females secretly banded together. They had a plan. Their plan included contacting one of the species who were constant visitors to their planet; the hanar.

The message went out, and a reply came back passed from one female to another or relayed in a quick whisper by a trusted male. The hanar agreed to meet under the cover of darkness in a remote area with a handful of women who would represent the female population as a whole.

The hanar agreed to the female’s request for rescue and sanctuary, with the conditions the society become Matriarchal and when the male children turn five years old, they would be subjected to inspection and given in to what they termed the Compact if selected for service.

The Compact between the hanar and drell gave the hanar what they needed most; hands to perform tasks their tentacles could not. In exchange, the hanar agreed to help build a drell city on Kahje. The Drell Conclave comprised five small domes and one large one. The hanar architects designed the domes to protect the drell from the incessant rain and humidity and connected them together by tubes allowing transportation between them.

Because of Kahje’s nearly endless stormy weather making building hazardous and time-consuming, the hanar could only rescue a tiny fraction of the populace within the span of a few decades. When the war-like males found out about the plan to rescue less than 400,000 out of over 11 billion people with the stipulation, the females take over leadership of their species; they became enraged.

The females and children fled the killing rage of the males. They slaughtered a vast majority of females before they could reach the safety of the hanar ships. Those who made it were few and knew if their species was to survive they had to make significant changes.

The Matriarchal society chose to set up breeding contracts with the males who were of age. The males agreed to be owned by the females in exchange for protection, rights, and care. The females agreed, and they referred to the males as stock from that moment on.

The males soon learned the females were stringent in their rules, and those older males still believing they were in charge quickly learned they were no longer in control. They were the first ones sent to the kelp and fish farms.

Over time their society flourished, but with one very noticeable concern. Males were being produced at a ten to one ratio to females. Once more the delicate balance was in danger because of male overpopulation. They desperately needed a way to assure a balance of female to male births so turned to science.

The Hanar Primacy conducted cloning and genetic sequencing trials attempting to manipulate the drell DNA in embryos so they could produce female offspring. It failed and created males which were sterile or deformed. The experiment ended. They had to keep producing children naturally, and hope someday either nature would adjust to balance itself, or a breakthrough would occur and their species could do it themselves through chromosomal tailoring.

Eudora sighed and looked back through the window as one of her assistants came into the room.

“Ariki, the Project Board members are awaiting your answer,” the female said as the door slid shut behind her.

“Inform them the Matriarchs are still debating their demands. Until we come to an agreement on what they want and what we can offer, the talks are at a standstill. Let them know we are meeting again in one hour to continue.”

The Ariki didn’t turn around when she heard the door swish open and close again.

* * *

Eudora sat at the head of the conference table and listened to the five Matriarchs. They considered these females royal lineage and were the highest-ranking females of the smaller domes. Currently, they were arguing the same points as they had the past week. They didn’t want to give up two males from their domes on top of adding their entire stock to the database given the possibility of losing a huge portion of their males in the first wave.

On and on the arguing went until Eudora had enough and slammed an open palm on the table. Silence reigned.

“I have tried to be patient with this. We all know we must bring our male population back into balance. The Soul Mate Project Board waits for the drell decision on whether we join the other species, or whether we remain outside their database. Their rules of joining are simple, their flexibility in their demands has been far better than what ours has been. They have given us very generous offers which one or another of you has found flawed for ridiculous reasons. I’ve had enough. This bickering will stop. Immediately.

“Know this, because the five of you not having the ability to come to a reasonable agreement I will put forth to the Board my own requirements. They are ironclad and will be followed to the letter by both the Project and by each and every one of us. Those found not complying will not only come under the penalties given by the Board but also by me.”

The room was silent for several minutes before the oldest of the Matriarchs asked for the details of the agreement.

Eudora sat back in her padded chair.

“We will send two males from each dome to the Project every five years to train for a variety of jobs. Those males will come from the various kelp, fish, and manual labor farms we’ve set up as workhouses for the male troublemakers. We can also choose to send males we consider inferior breeders or the ones the Compact rejected; once they reach their majority. In exchange for those males, we will not have to pay the requisite fees to the Board to remain a member of the Project. They will automatically be added to the database. The Board asked for an initial set of males sent to them with the signing of the agreement. I will send ten of my own males to cover this.

“It requires us to register all unbound males at their time of reaching the age of maturity. This also includes male offspring of Compact trained males if they are rejected for Compact training, or if they have not entered into a breeding contract with a female. Compacted males are scanned and notations placed in their folders. They must go through a process to assure the males can adjust to a different lifestyle. The hanar have agreed to cover the costs of retraining those males.

“Concerning males reaching their majority and have successfully completed their contracts to produce two children; if both are male their female owner decides if the male is registered, or if he remains as breeding stock until the next child is produced in the hopes it is a female. If it is also male, he is then automatically entered into the database. This final child will need to be produced within three years or the female will forfeit the male for the immediate addition to the database. You will not keep these males at two children then not mate them again just to keep them in your stable.

“Any males having reached their majority and have yet to produce a child after three consecutive years of breeding to one female will be considered inferior and automatically added to the database.

“All non-breeder males who are not bonded Pashi will be entered into the database. I strongly advise anyone paired as such to contact the board for options or considering bonding to the ones they don’t wish to lose or insisting on a Covenant agreement with their purchase.

“They are not demanding we register all our males immediately, but over the course of six months. It is highly unlikely it will leave us without an adequate workforce.

“Suinimas, Secunimas, or Tarotunimas along with officially bonded Pashi are exempt from the database. Be warned. I am putting into place new laws concerning the bonding of Pashi beginning at the end of this meeting which concerns all females. I will limit bonded Pashi to three. If you are at three or more than they will not remove the inhibitors for additional males. This will stop any female from bonding all of their Pashi to keep them out of the database. All licensed medical staff have already been notified of such and anyone attempting to bribe them or circumvent the law by going to an unlicensed person will be harshly punished. The Archivist has already updated the listings.”

The Matriarchs looked at each other with nervousness and a few opened their omni tools and began to send out pings.

“I’ll only repeat this once. If any female attempts to circumvent the law, the punishment will be harsh. This includes royalty. I will personally strip your titles and holdings from you and your daughters and donate every single credit from your accounts to the board to use as they see fit.”

Two of the Matriarchs rapidly typed out a different message and quietly closed their tools while nervous sounding hums vibrated their chests and throats.

“As far as what the Board brings to the table beside the waiving of monetary fees. They will cover the cost of the scanning facility, and transportation of the matched males to the Citadel to go through the bonding process. They also cover the cost of the collars, housing, food, inhibitor removal, and incidentals during the male’s stay while on the Citadel until the ceremony is complete.

“One requirement they had given, and subsequently rejected by one of you, was the purchase of omni tools and translators for the males, along with clothing and other items. This Covenant cost will now be placed upon the matched mate instead of the male’s owner. The Board will also now be the ones to regulate the compensation to the owner to offset the ‘loss of a valuable resource’. Of course, the remuneration will be much less than what would have been originally offered had you accepted their terms and provided the items yourselves.”

Hearing the stubbornness of one of their Matriarchs cost them additional funds made them hiss in annoyance and stare at the gray female seated at the far end of the table.

“Finally, concerning the females. As part of our agreement, they will not require us to register. Know this though, according to everything they sent, and all reports I’ve received from the Hanar, Asari, and Turian Hierarchy leaders, our souls will remain incomplete unless we find our matches and go through the binding ritual.

“If we should be added to the database and matched up with non-drell there are several stipulations they would not negotiate on. Listen carefully as these are important.

“Males of other species found as mates must live under the rules of the Drell Society, and by the rules set forth by the Project. They are not considered property and are protected under a Board directive disallowing them to be traded to other females. No contracts of any kind can be placed on them. They will automatically be granted special status. This means it will place the bonded mate at the top of the male hierarchy.

“Grievances are handled by a group consisting of asari, turian, and drell who have all trained in dispute resolution and our culture. Female mates and asari will be considered as Commoners. They can not own males or request contracts for use of our males. They will also be subjected to society’s rules, including punishment for breaking the laws toward the males. What you do in your own households concerning sharing of your bonded males is between you unless it harms the bonded male in any way. This includes mentally. If the male is harmed, we will remove him and the rest of the males from your household and place them under protection. We will allow you to visit them without the bonded mate. All expenses on the upkeep and care of the males, the separate household, and the needed attendants will be on you. This goes across the board; from commoner to Ariki.”

Eudora let everything she told the other females sink in before telling them the last of the agreement.

“Should any female be found guilty of noncompliance or interference with the Project they will become subject to fines and penalties levied strictly by the Soul Mate Project Judiciary Board and will immediately be sent to the facility to be added to the database. I will not overrule their judgment. By any female I also mean all of us sitting at this table, myself included.”

The youngest of the Matriarchs seated at the table began complaining about fees, loss of stock and demanded her dome be left out of the contract. The Ariki stood up and leaned on the table, her eyes met the other female’s.

“You will desist in the constant complaints. You will fall under the agreement. If you think of disobeying my orders, then know I will remove your house from the Matriarchal seat of leadership and replaced with the next tier. You will lose your stock and be moved to the Commoner listings and settlement. I will brook no more arguments, no more whining, no more childish behavior from any of you.”

The room grew quiet and Eudora stood straight. “Once the agreement is ratified the Project will begin scanning the males. They estimated the process could begin in as little as six months. I have offered them a converted warehouse to use as temporary lodging for the construction and facility staff. The males falling under the guidelines will also be housed there until they have all been scanned and returned to their owners.”

She met each of the other female’s eyes, lingering on the youngest, before turning and walking out of the room.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

It was all the males could whisper about as they lay on their pallets in the male dorm. The Ariki proclaimed the drell was now part of the Soul Mate Project.

The Tuatahi, head male of the female’s household, gave them the news. In six month's time, some of the males would be given to the Project Board while others would be scanned and await news of a match. Others would not be eligible for the first wave.

A few of the older males belonging to the Matriarch asked questions about the Project, and which ones would be eligible. The male finally told them he didn’t know. All he knew was they would find out in six months.

Arion lay and listened to the various males whispering to each other. Some were hoping they would be one of the lucky ones chosen to leave, while others were saying they were too frightened of the changes.

Arion just wanted out of this household and to go back to his owner. The four-year breeding contract his owner agreed to would finally be over in little more than a year, and he had yet to sire a child on the female; the youngest of the three daughters to this dome’s Matriarch. He shivered slightly as he recalled the memory of the tirade the female had when the Doctor told her she hadn’t conceived the month before; again. If he was one of the unfortunate males owned by her, he would have been punished, luckily he wasn’t, and his contract forbid it.

His gaze turned toward the green male huddled in the dorm's corner. She owned that particular male, and just like him and two others, he had yet to impregnate the female. The male rocked back and forth and a hushed prayer reached Arion’s hearing. “Please let me leave this place. Arashu, please help me.”

Arion sighed, the males were supposed to be treated with respect and care. Almost every single one was. Almost being the keyword. The ones owned by this particular female were mistreated and warned not to say anything or she would send them to the farms where their life expectancy would diminish to less than a decade.

Arion closed his eyes and did his best to block out the whispers. He needed his rest; the female had demanded he service her first thing in the morning when her heat cycle would begin.

***~* Five Months Later *~***

The Ariki followed the asari and turian board members on the tour of the scanning and housing facility. The state-of-the-art facility impressed her, as did the accommodations the males would receive during their brief stay at the facility while being prepared for the changes which would affect them.

The group paused outside the medical section and watched the machinery being tested.

The turian turned toward the Ariki, “As you are aware, Soul Mate database policy states everyone added must undergo stringent medical scanning and testing. This is to make sure they are healthy, and we provide all necessary medical treatments before being added. The scanners will initiate a deep tissue scan as part of their files. It is more reliable than the surface scanner, and a precaution in case the mark has been marred due to injury or time.

“Your agreement with the Board covers all costs for the procedure and any subsequent treatments. We have an identical medical facility on the Citadel where the surgery to install the omni tool link and translator will take place. This local facility will handle the removal of the bonding inhibitors; several of your doctors volunteered to perform the process.”

The Ariki nodded and smiled as she continued with the tour. Yes, joining the Soul Mate Project may have been just what her people needed.

When the tour ended with the housing area, the asari and turian ushered the Ariki into a classroom.

“As you have seen, the facilities are fully functional and stocked. We can begin the process at any time. We do have a few requests, the first being the males come from a single dome at a time. We have the listing of the household names and the number of males registered there falling under the agreement guidelines. Our shuttles will bring in one household at a time until the facility is at capacity and will be returned to their homes one household at a time. Second, the staff will need several days in-between to clean the facility and upload the data while they keep your males for observation. According to our records, the facility will handle approximately 275,000 males over the next six months. Though this number sounds like quite a lot, it is in fact, much less than what one facility handles on a weekly basis on most homeworlds. We need extra time for medical treatments because your males have never left the planet. They have no natural immunity to anything not from this world and must have time to build it up.”

Eudora nodded to the asari, “I understand and will make sure the others know. You can begin with the males on the list from my dome given to the Project under the agreement whenever you wish. I would prefer you to start with the smallest dome and work your way to the main dome. Most of the males in New Rakhana are under contract, and I wish to speak with the other females to see if they will release them from the rest of their time.”

An hour later Eudora arrived back at the Palace and set up a conference call with all the Matriarchs of the Conclave. She gave them the news of the completed facility and they would begin shortly.

* * *

Arion helped the green male to lie on a pallet. The male’s back was a mess. Once again none of the four males impregnated the female and this one male suffered the unjust punishment.

The Tuatahi hissed when another of the males told him what happened. “Wait here, all of you. I will be back with supplies and healing ointment. This has gone on too long, and it is about time the Toku Kuia hears about it.”

The green male began to shake uncontrollably and two other males helped to remove the torn clothing from his body.

“There is no sense in this, our legal rights include fair treatment, and care from the females, not abuse,” one of them hissed and the others nodded.

When the Tuatahi returned two females followed him. The other males scrambled out of their way with low bows and waited against the wall.

The hisses coming from the injured male, and the two females ranged from pain to anger.

“How long has this been going on?” the Doctor asked and the Tuatahi looked over at the small group of males huddled against the wall. None of them said anything and when the Matriarch raised her voice to ask them the same question Arion stepped forward.

“With respect Matriarch, your daughter ordered us not to tell anyone, including you, or face banishment to the kelp farms.”

The Matriarch looked him over, “You are not one of mine. Her threat doesn’t touch you. Now explain this.”

Arion blinked, took a deep breath, and told her everything.

* * *

Eudora woke to the sound of one of her assistants calling her name.

“What is it?”

“There is an emergency call waiting for you from the Western dome.”

Eudora sighed and rolled out of her bed accidentally dislodging the aqua-blue male from her side and apologizing when he landed with a thump on the floor. She grabbed her silken wrapper from the foot of the disheveled bed and tied it around her before pressing the holo button on her comm station.

When the call connected, Eudora’s brow ridges raised at the look of anger on the other female’s face.

“Adonia? What is wrong? Why are you calling me this late?”

“Eudora, there’s been a rather unfortunate incident in my household. My third daughter broke the laws concerning the agreement made by our ancestors regarding the treatment of the males. She terribly abused at least one male owned by her. By law I must inform you.”

“Is the male alive?”

Adonia gave a brief nod, “He is, although badly injured. The family physician removed him from the dorm and is treating him now. There are three others which I now need to deal with. One is a male under contract, he still has more time left, but I am not willing to leave him in her care until the contract is up. I contacted his owner, and she demanded I pay her twice over what I already paid because of trauma to the male. He assured me that other than being used hard over the last three years in breeding her he didn’t suffer any physical abuse.”

Eudora sighed and rubbed tiredly at her face, “Let me guess. Nikoleta.”

“Got it on the first try.”

“All right, I’ll call a meeting in the afternoon and we’ll see if we can come to a satisfactory resolution to this. Bring along the doctor’s report on the other male when you come.”

* * *

Eudora groaned quietly as the bickering started. She swore to herself all the young Matriarch knew how to do was complain, bicker, and act selfishly.

“Quiet down. The first part of this nasty business concerns the breaking of the laws governing the care of the males. I’ve gone over the documents given to me by the physician who treated him, the other male’s testimony, Adonia’s testimony on what condition the male was in last night, along with the conflicting testimony of her daughter.

“I find it reprehensible that one of our ranking females would treat a male so callously and break the laws which she, as a daughter of a dome’s highest-ranked Matriarch, is sworn to uphold and follow. I will now render judgment. I find her guilty, and I issue the following fines and penalties. I shall remove all males owned by her. Their registry cleared and now listed as unbound and considered eligible for scanning in the Soul Mate Project Database. I will use funds from her personal accounts for their medical treatment and to house, clothe, and feed them while they await news of any matches. The time limit for this is one year after the year is up if they have not found a match they will begin service on a farm in the New Rakhana dome and paid a fair wage from Matriarch Adonia’s yearly income.

“As to the welfare of the injured male. She will compensate for his ongoing treatment both physically and mentally. He shall receive compensation in the form of 100,000 credits per year for the rest of his life and also be eligible for entry into the Project’s database after he has healed and their medical staff pronounces him fit.”

Eudora paid no attention to the girl’s complaints and outbursts, well she didn’t until the loud crack of a palm connecting with flesh caused her to look over. Her eyes widened slightly as the girl broke into tears and began rubbing the side of her face where her mother slapped her.

“You are a disgrace to the family and the Conclave,” Adonia hissed at her daughter.

“Furthermore,” Eudora said and everyone’s attention returned to her. “Furthermore, breeding will be limited to contracts with a Compact trained male and only under supervision. Adonia and Keto will work together to set up contracts with eligible males. She is forbidden to purchase Pashi, bonded or not, and limited to a Suinima who must attend counseling sessions to make sure he is being cared for properly.”

Eudora cleared her throat and addressed the contracted male. “State your name, home dome, and your owner.”

“Arion, Eastern dome, Matriarch Drakou.”

Eudora nodded at the female sitting next to him. “Nikoleta. You contracted this male for a term of four years as a breeder to Adonia’s daughter. Is this correct?”

“Yes, and she...”

“Silence,” Eudora said. “Answer only the questions put forth. I want no more of your complaints or whining.”

“Arion, over the course of your contract has she physically abused you?”

“No, Ariki.”

“Arion, according to the contract you have less than one year remaining, is this correct?”

“Yes, Ariki.”

“Nikoleta, Adonia contacted you and asked to have the contract terminated and Arion sent home early. Is this correct?”

“Yes,” the female hissed and crossed her arms. Angry at not being able to give a tirade, but smart enough to realize it would do more harm than good to go against the Ariki.

“You demanded compensation which Adonia deemed unfair and she asked me to mediate. This is my resolution; since you could not come to one on your own. The contract will end immediately and Arion returned to Nikoleta’s home. They will not render monetary compensation as he performed his duty and by his own admission came to no harm.”

The screeching started again from Adonia’s daughter, “He failed in his duties. He was to service me and sire children. He failed. Three years of failure. He did not fulfill his contract. He is inferior. She knowingly contracted out a worthless male as a breeder. I demand compensation for the wasted years, and they should send this male to the kelp farm for his failings.”

Nikoleta began screeching right back.

Eudora slammed a palm on the table. “ENOUGH!”

Eudora took a deep breath and let it out, the beginnings of a terrible migraine forming behind her eyes. “By the agreement set forth with the Project, any male under contract who hasn’t bred a child in three years will be deemed eligible for scanning. As far as failing in his duties, I do not agree. There were four males servicing you monthly during your heat cycle. And you showed no sign of impregnation, it is highly unlikely all four cannot sire children. His age falls into the prime zone for breeding, and the doctor’s report which accompanied the contract shows no physical ailments with a sperm count well within range. Failing to breed lies elsewhere.”

Arion couldn’t believe what he heard. He would be one of the first males added to the database. Would it be possible to leave Kahje? Would it be possible to no longer be a female’s property, but a partner?


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

Elise bundled the customers chosen flowers up with a few sprigs of tiny, white baby’s breath, and two deep-green lacy fern leaves before wrapping them in a colorful acid-free paper and placing them in a box. Her florist shop wasn’t one of the largest, but her reputation of having the best looking, and longest-lasting flowers continued to grow.

“Here you go, Sir. Have the recipient mix the contents of this packet into a vase of room temperature water before placing the flowers into it, and they will remain fragrant and beautiful for several weeks,” she said with a smile. She tucked the small packet of her special blend of nutrients, fertilizer, and powders which the flowers would gradually absorb into the ribbon tied around the box. The blend would cause them to become partially preserved to allow the blooms to remain longer.

Her great-great-grandmother created the mixture and applied under the Trade Secret Protection Act to register it as a proprietary blend. One of the rules was the creator had to do everything they could to keep the recipe a secret. So, unlike most family recipes, this one wasn’t written down, instead, it was passed down from one member of the family to the next by word of mouth, and years of practice. Her grandmother taught her the formula as a young child, along with the responsibility of the secret and continued upkeep of the protection.

After the customer left, she glanced at the clock and sighed, still two more hours to go before she closed her shop for the night, and headed up to the roof to check her greenhouse. Elise preferred working with the flowers instead of working in the shop, but without help, she could trust she had no choice.

Elise picked up the small duster and began to sweep the tiny pieces of leftover twine and paper into a small pile as memories of the last fiasco with hired help entered her mind.

Jean-Paul had been a handsome, friendly, intelligent, and diligent worker. Or so she thought. He quickly charmed his way into her bed, and if she hadn’t walked in on him rifling through her business papers and desk drawers searching for the preserving recipe, he would have wormed his way further into the family business.

When the police arrived, they found several baggies of powders they initially thought were drugs tucked inside a small case in his belongings. After seeing the mess he had made in her drawers, she quickly led one policeman to her lab area and saw the fine coating of dust and fingerprints left from where he had hurriedly opened jars and dumped powders into the baggies.

She pressed charges and during the subsequent trial found out he worked for a large competitor who wanted her family blend. He hadn’t cared a whit for her and even sneered at her from the stand as he said loudly and viciously that he had to take pills to get a hard-on just to fuck her. Not only was she dull-witted and ugly, but one of the worst lays he ever had. If his employers hadn’t wanted her formula without tipping her off they had duped her, he would have just stolen it from her, to begin with. Instead, he had to pretend, and try to stick it out until she became less diligent, and he could get the formula. He had grown impatient and just wanted away from her. He hadn’t counted on her coming down from the greenhouse earlier than normal and finding him.

Elise shuddered as she remembered her embarrassment as several of the town’s journalists printed it word for word in their news articles. One reporter, in particular, hounded her and her customers for weeks with questions.

Her regular customers frequented her shop daily just to talk to her after that. They made sure she was all right, and that she wasn’t being harassed. Luckily, after a few weeks, the whole thing blew over. People had other things to do than to stand outside her shop and call her names and make inappropriate or idiotic jokes about her.

Elise finished tidying up the inside of the shop and arranging several bouquets to place in the display case in the store’s glass window before taking a broom and going outside. She swept the metal walkway outside her door and straightened the old-fashioned welcome mat before looking out over the neighborhood.

Her shop was located in one of the oldest sections of town where the buildings somehow kept some flair from centuries past. Even with the devastating floods which would destroy the town repeatedly, this one section somehow continued to survive.

Elise wiped the sweat from her brow as she watched the flow of skycars pass by, dipping and weaving from lane to lane, or gliding into the lower parking decks to drop off passengers.

It had been less than a century since the last flood destroyed a huge portion of the town. New Orleans had originally been built centuries before in an area below sea-level. The first time the town flooded, the survivors thought it was a fluke and rebuilt. It happened again and again, but the tenacity of the people to not abandon their homes remained. After the last flood, they rebuilt the town on enormous metal platforms designed to withstand floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and any other force of nature they thought could be thrown at them.

The oldest remaining buildings, the ones of historical value, or like her neighborhood remaining mostly intact, were carefully raised. During storms or emergencies, it would be protected with a clear, shatterproof dome. Then they rebuilt the rest of the city from scratch. Where her shop was a mix of brick, stone, glass, and wood, the ones on the other side of the enormous platform making up the newer business and residential area of town were made of metal and plastic rising high in the sky and protected by kinetic barriers.

After closing the shop she went to the roof and entered the one place where she always felt happy and at peace; her rooftop greenhouse. Inside were carefully arranged sections of plants. Roses of various colors, lilies ranging from blinding white to a deep crimson red were lined up beside delicate peonies, daisies, and tulips all in a riot of colors. Leafy, green ferns lined the walls next too small pots of delicate violets in shades of purple, blue, yellow, red and white. Gypsophila, or more commonly known as baby’s breath, grew from pots in a corner, their pink or white blossoms open and adding their delicate scent to the air. She designed each of the clear, enclosed planting areas to maintain optimal growing conditions. It cost most of her inheritance to have the greenhouse built, but it had been more than worth it. She checked the read-outs, made tiny adjustments to the settings then began moving along the rows to tend the plants.

Elise gave a satisfied sigh as she checked the soil conditions of her special rose bushes. The mix of purple and blue blooms was a cultivation she had tenderly cared for and refined over the last ten years. This year she finally perfected the striped bloom and would send a cultivar sample to the Royal Horticultural Society and the Plant Breeder’s Association to register it. She viewed the small grouping of bushes, each one grown from her cultivar with pride. Although hers didn’t come in a variety of multiple colors, her roses were natural, and not just white roses injected with dyes along their stems as they grew to force them to take on the unnatural, brilliant colors of a rainbow. Or so genetically modified they no longer resembled a natural rose or even retained a scent. Her blue roses had a spicy, strong, and pleasant scent, and she smiled as she inhaled it from one perfectly formed rose.

* * *

Elise woke at her usual time and stretched, today was her day off. The shop was closed for the entire day and her greenhouse waited.

Just after lunch, a notification came through letting her know she had a call waiting. After seeing it was her mother, she hurried to lock the greenhouse before accepting the call.

“Hello, Mom. How are you and Dad enjoying your vacation?”

Her mother smiled at her and heaved a contented sigh, “Hi, Elise. We are doing great, this vacation has been a real treat. These islands are terrific and the native flora is outrageous. You’d love it.”

Elise laughed, “I can’t just up and close the shop for a month to go to Thessia, Mom, but I’m glad you’re enjoying yourselves. I got the last set of holos Dad sent me, and you’re right, those blossoms are incredible.”

Her mother adjusted the wide-brimmed straw hat she wore to protect her fair skin from the harsh Thessian sun and took a sip of a fruit-laden drink before glancing around. “There are so many species here, Elise. So many bonded pairs. We feel a bit uncomfortable at times.”

Elise nodded, “It is to be expected though, Mom. The Systems Alliance just ratified our inclusion thirty years ago. Who knows how many couples lost their chances at a Soul Mate because of not being included for the past several thousand years, or because of species holding out in joining.”

Elise’s mother chewed her bottom lip, “It’s been ten years since you’ve been added to the database, still no word?”

Elise shook her head, “No, and it’s been thirty for both you and dad.”

Her mom shrugged. “We were legally married before the ratification, even though we both voluntarily entered the database our files show our marriage. We’re happy. I just wish you would find someone, Elise. It’s been four years since that bastard, Jean-Paul, and you’ve not bothered to even date.” Her mother looked up, “You know you have to produce an heir soon and begin training them to take over the family business, or at least give you grandchildren if your children aren’t interested.”

Elise rubbed the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes, “I know Mom, I’m just not ready yet. And I don’t need a man to have children. There are plenty of medically approved donors I could choose from.”

“Raising children on your own will be difficult. You’re already handling the shop, the greenhouse, and every other aspect of the family business. Adding children on top of it will be daunting.”

“I know, but it’s still an option. And I won’t have to worry about someone else trying to steal the recipe or my cultivar.”

Her mother gasped, “You did it? You created a naturally occurring blue rose?”

“Yes, the flowers are beautiful. Full and lush, a dark purple and medium blue bloom with bright blue striping. No dyes or use of genetic manipulation by injection of violet compounds. Nothing but selective breeding, and cross-pollination with other roses.”

Her mother squealed in delight then blushed as she attracted the attention of several couples dining nearby. “You’ve got to hurry and register it just in case.”

“I’ve already sent the sample cultivar and test results by express delivery. It should be there within hours.”

Her mother gave her a broad grin, “I’m so proud of you, darling. Your grandmother would be proud of you as well. We’ve got to go now, the tour of the Goddess Gardens begins in ten minutes. We’ll take plenty of pictures. Love you.” Her mother blew her a kiss before disconnecting the call and Elise went back to her greenhouse.


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

Thirty males sat in orderly rows in the waiting room listening to a broadcast from the Soul Mate Project detailing what would happen to them over the coming week. Arion sat next to the same green male from the Matriarch’s home; he looked much better than he had the last time. The male whispered his back was not only completely healed, but they had carefully repaired the scar tissue, and he didn’t have to pay for it.

Arion enviously looked at the new clothes and shiny new omni tool on the other male’s wrist. The male apparently spent some of his compensation on the items, then Arion blinked and looked away, the male had suffered at the hands of the female and deserved those things, and more.

The attendants called ten names, and they guided the males from the room. Those were the ones chosen to train to work for the Soul Mate Project, the rest would be added to the database and returned to their Matriarch’s dome to await word of a match. Life as they knew it would continue.

* * *

Arion stood in the Ariki’s throne room shocked to his core. It had been less than a week since they medically treated and scanned him into the database. Now he held a packet in his hand with his name written on it and the words, Soul Mate Project: Prospective Match blazing in brilliant blue lettering. He blinked and studied two other males also standing with packets in their hands and looks of shocked disbelief on their faces.

“Four out of the first thirty had Soul Mates waiting for them?” the Ariki asked and swallowed as the Project’s representative nodded. Eudora frowned then glanced back at the datapad with the names on it. Her brow ridges rose as she read the name and data of the missing male. She cleared her throat and nodded.

“Yes, Ariki Eudora. The other males are being processed into the system as quickly as possible, and more mates will probably be found soon. There are thousands of people added to the database as they come of age or meet the requirements for their specific race. We have nine different races, with the Project, and the Board is hoping to add the Raloi to the database within the next ten years. There are millions of files to compare their scans to and initiate the process on daily. These four are the first of many more to come. We began with the drell and the humans since they are the newest. These were the once with mates. The database is continuing to run the comparison with the remaining races in the order they joined the Board.”

Eudora sighed and shifted slightly in her seat. “Very well. As soon as the board processes the rest of the first wave of males from all six domes, and any matches found, you may begin with the other males. In the meantime, we will house these males and any others in the dormitory.”

The representative bowed, “The Dispensation Committee will begin coordinating to put together the reimbursement plan.”

Eudora waved her hand, she had no real issue with what the Board would pay as long as they guaranteed the safety and care of the males. The orange male with the blue stripes, however, belonged to Nikoleta, and she knew the other female would cause the Board grief.

By the end of the month, they matched another seventeen males out of the first one hundred scanned. Over the next five months, scanning and adding thousands more would happen. How many had Soul Mates waiting for them? How many more would have lost the chance to be complete because of the way their society functioned?

* * *

Arion couldn’t deny they lived a peaceful life for the most part. Their domes were prosperous and the people healthy. Their society had its flaws, but overall functioned better than some other species. Over the past month they taught the males about the other races and what they could expect as mates to one of them. It shocked all the males to learn only two scanned males had drell mates. What shocked them more was they were each other’s mate.

They held their binding ritual on Kahje instead of having the males go to the Citadel, this way the others could watch and see what to expect, rather than just being told about it.

The Ariki gave the two a small apartment in the main dome as a present, and they continued their jobs working as shop attendants, but she required them to visit with the other males to describe how being Soul Bound changed them.

Several of the waiting males whispered after the first few times of seeing the mated males about how different they seemed. Both of them smiling more and looking happy. Sharing glances, and touches when they thought none of the other males were looking. It gave them all hope.

Three days later the technicians uploaded the last of the initial males and ran the search one more time. They located no more matches. The following day 18 males of various colors and ages filed into the waiting shuttle after having their binding inhibitor removed. All of them excited, all of them nervous, and all of them hoping their mate treated them kindly.

* * *

Elise looked up as the tiny bell above her shop door tinkled out its merry tune when an asari and turian walked through the door.

Elise pasted her usual smile on her face, “Welcome to the Whimsical Bloom. I grow all the flowers and plants on the premises and use only organic, pesticide-free fertilizer. If you have questions about the flowers or care of them I’ll be happy to help.”

The blue asari smiled at her as they approached the counter. “Thank you for the welcome, though we are not here to purchase any of your lovely flowers. Would you, by chance, be Elise LaRue?”

Elise frowned and nodded, “Yes, I am. What is this about?”

“We are here to deliver your summons to the Soul Mate Project Tower on the Citadel. We have found a match,” the asari said and Elise stood in shock for a moment.

“I beg your pardon, I don’t think I heard you properly. Could you please repeat that?”

The turian gave a soft-sounding snort before he repeated what the asari said and placed the envelope on the counter with the brilliant blue letting shining under the store’s bright lights.

* * *

“Mom, I hate to be calling so late at night but I need you and Dad to return to Earth, like immediately.”

“Elise? It’s past midnight here. What do you mean by needing us to return? Has something happened at the shop? Are you injured?”

Elise swallowed and shook her head. “Not exactly. It is an emergency, though. I need you and Dad to come to New Orleans and watch the shop for me for at least a week. You need to be here by tomorrow night.”

“Why? You haven’t told me what’s wrong.”

“The Soul Mate Project found my match,” Elise said and winced as her mother let out a scream and started to cry. She saw her dad jerk awake and fall from the other side of the bed then yell about intruders and he was armed.

* * *

Elise stepped off the shuttle and moved quickly toward the luggage claim area. After retrieving her single suitcase she hurried to catch the transport to her hotel and send her arrival notice to the Project. Because of delays with the flight she had less than two hours now to register or found in violation of the Project’s agreement.

With fifteen minutes to spare, her login and validation showed as accepted. At nine the following morning she would need to report to the facility for processing and meeting with her assigned counselor.

Elise checked the time on her omni tool before she left the hotel, the transport would drop her off well before her appointment. She quickly jogged up the long line of stairs to the tower and followed the signs to the Prospective Match waiting room. After running her omni tool under the scanner she sat in an empty seat and placed her packet on her lap. As she waited, she began to people watch.

She saw several species and watched as people came and went. Some looked excited, some looked belligerent, some were so scared they jumped at every little sound, and most looked like they’d rather be anywhere else than in that room.

Time seemed to crawl by until finally her omni tool lit up and buzzed. She stood up then began to follow the salarian who signaled to her.

She waited patiently as the salarian read over the doctor’s reports and compared the images of the scans.

“We just need to run a surface scan one more time as verification of the mark. If any recent damage occurred to it, the file will need updating. Please remove your dress and put on the paper covering lying on the table. Once we’re done, I must insert a tiny rod under the skin behind your ear as part of your medical treatment.”

Elise sighed and did what he asked. Then she closed her eyes and turned around as he told her to uncover her mark and hold still. She bent over the table and buried her face in her hands. The salarian hummed a merry tune as the machine scanned the light-colored mark which reminded her of a viola surrounded by ivy which graced the right cheek of her ass.

Elise turned her head to the side as the salarian sang song lyrics under his breath as he watched the holo-screen in front of him create the soul mark image. “You must be happy about something.”

The salarian grinned at her, “I love my job, and I love old human musicals. I feel happy when one of the hormonally driven species finds their matches and I just can’t seem to contain it. I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable. My supervisors keep telling me to stay professional but I can’t help myself.”

Elise laughed softly, “Don’t worry about it. I won’t mention it to anyone.”

* * *

Elise sat in a comfortably appointed office and waited for her counselor. No one provided any information concerning her mate, and she started to grow anxious. She looked up as the door opened and an asari hurried through.

“I’m sorry to keep you waiting Miss LaRue. My name is Saryx Disava, and I’m your assigned counselor.”

Elise reached out and shook the proffered hand.

“Normally, this would be the time I would introduce you to your Soul Mate. Unfortunately, his is sequestered because of an incident with his group this morning; it’s the reason I’m running late. He is uninjured, but along with the other males, still quite shaken.”

Elise frowned, “What happened?”

Saryx leaned back in her office chair after she brought up the case file. “Your mate comes from a new species. None of the males have ever been off their home planet and coming to the Citadel has been more than simple culture shock to them. Earlier the males were to have a private tour of the Cultural Center, only somewhere along the lines of communication the “private” part was ignored. Curious bystanders overwhelmed their group, and they panicked. Yours was the only meeting set up for today and already signed in to begin your processing when the incident occurred. After explaining the situation to him and offering to place the binding on hold for a day so he could recover he asked to go ahead with the ritual. He stated it would make him more comfortable knowing he was bound to his mate immediately.”

“He is all right, though? And what did you mean by new species? I have heard nothing about a new one.”

“He is fine, as far as new species, let me clarify. His actual species is not new to the Council Races, but they joined the Project six months ago. He is one of only 20 of his kind to get matches so far. Now, there are several things we must go over as they are important. As you may be aware, each race has an agreement with the Project tailored to their specific needs or requests.

“One of those requests is that you, as his Soul Mate, provide an omni tool and translator, along with clothing and other necessities.”

Elise blinked and held up a hand. “Wait, a moment. He doesn’t have a translator? And what happens if I can’t afford all of this? I own a small shop, but I’m a far cry from being rich and able to spend credits so readily.”

“The Project Board has taken it into account. Depending on your income level we offer specialized services. For those needing only a little help we have agreements with several local businesses with a listing of approved items for special rates. Usually, the price is half of the cost of buying it off the shelf. For those needing more assistance we also offer loans to help spread the cost over a longer time. For those unable to pay we offer base quality goods, and we note the files for subsequent updates and recommendations. The Project covers medical costs for the installation of the link and translator.”

Elise rubbed her top of her hand with a thumb. “You said several things I would have to cover, what else is there?”

“You will need to sign an agreement between yourself and the Project board concerning the male. You see, in his society males are property; a valuable resource. Under the agreements you will need to reimburse the female for losing the male.”

“Pardon me? Did you just say I had to buy my mate? What is this? It sounds like slavery.”

Saryx sighed and shook her head, “It’s not slavery, just think of it as business. The males are a commodity on their world. They are the laborers, they are also a necessity for sustaining their population. Their species cannot be cloned or genetically altered. Without viable males their population dwindles even further. Most of the males coming to us are what the Matriarchs referred to as inferior breeding stock. They were contracted out to breed with females, hoping to produce more females, but only produced males or failed to produce at all. Due to various factors, their resources and living space had begun to run dangerously low. They joined more out of necessity than anything.”

Saryx tapped a stylus on her desk and looked at Elise. “I know it sounds horrible, believe me it sounds that way to me as well, but this will remove the males from their population who cannot reproduce, along with ones which offer nothing to their society. It frees up their limited resources and allows more children to be born in the hope they can produce those much-needed females. As of this moment, their population is less than 500,000. Not just on their planet, but as a species. It also gives one's like you their Soul Mate. Without their agreeing to join the Project you would not become whole, isn’t that worth any cost?”

Elise rubbed at her forehead, “Just what is this female asking for the male?”

Saryx grinned at her, “Well according to the file the female wanted 200,000 credits.”

Elise gasped, “There is no way I can pay that.”

Saryx waved a hand, “I said it was what she wanted, not what she’s getting. The Board controls the recompense. Your mate costs 50,000 credits and is payable to the Board, over the next five years, unless you can pay it in advance.”

“Fifty thousand? That’s a lot of credits, on top of everything else.”

Saryx typed something into her terminal and waited a moment. “I see you own a business. The expenses and income you listed are accurate?”

“Yes, I live over the shop, and own the original part of the building. I’m still paying off the loan for the upper levels and their renovation from businesses to a living area as per the contract I had with the other owners. I listed everything and answered to the best of my ability.”

Saryx glanced at the human female then frowned and went back to typing. “Just give me a few minutes and let me see if I can offer some assistance.”

Ten minutes later Saryx received a reply to her inquires. “On top of the discounts to the shops, the Dispensation Board agreed to extend the time for paying the fees. We will send the entire amount to the Matriarch, you, in turn, will pay 5,500 credits a year for the next 10 years. The extra 5,000 credits is the loan fee and will be deposited into a special account to help other mates finding themselves in a financial dilemma concerning the recompense fees. If you can pay off the initial amount early, they will adjust it. This is the best I can do. It ties my hands at this point.”

Elise shifted in her chair and did several quick calculations in her head. If she extended her hours and sold several of her new roses to select collectors she may be able to pay off the loan within the first year if she added in the rest of her inheritance from her grandmother.

“How much do I pay you now?”

* * *

Arion sat in the hard, plastic chair and waited for the asari to return. He and several of the other males were still shaken by being accosted by several females pushing in on their group. Since none of the males had translators, they couldn’t understand the people, and when several tried to touch them, the males began to panic and rushed from the building.

When the door opened, he leaped to his feet. The asari waved as she pointed to the chair and he sat back down. He watched as she typed something into the terminal then he heard the electronic voice telling him his mate had arrived and was filling out the agreement with the Board. As soon as they signed it, they would take him to the medical facility where the doctors would embed a translation chip into his aural canal, and an omni tool link in his wrist. Once he recovered, his mate would provide him with everything he required. They would choose their binding collars before going to the facility for their ritual binding.

He swallowed and nodded. She smiled at him and turned the holo-screen around to show him an image. The voice told him it was his mate, Elise LaRue, a human female. He tested her name on his tongue and smiled as the asari nodded. He would meet his Soul Mate in only a matter of hours.


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

Elise paced the confines of the small room as she waited for news. Her counselor told her they took the male to the medical facilities for his surgeries an hour earlier. They assured her it wouldn’t take more than another hour, and he’d be ready to leave the facility a short time after he woke up. The omni tool and translator chip she ordered arrived quickly and they would update the software as he recovered. The rest of the items they would need to shop for after their ceremony.

She sat for a few minutes then got up to begin her restless pacing again. Finally, the door opened and her counselor walked in.

“Everything went well, and he’s awake. They are testing the translation software and updating it as we speak. The technicians transferred your personal contact information, address, and other important information over to his omni tool. After we received his council issued identification number, we forwarded it to the Systems Alliance for his citizenship status.

“It won’t be long now. When he’s ready, they will signal us and I’ll take you to the transportation office where you’ll get to meet him then transported to the binding facility. It is a bit of an unusual circumstance as the pair would choose their collars the day before the binding ceremony, but it would be best if you get his supplies and return to Earth. Word has gotten around of a new Soul Mate eligible species spotted on the Citadel. Needless to say, everyone is trying to catch glimpses of them. One thing you must remember, in their culture, it is taboo for a female to touch one of their males without permission. He’s your mate, and only you have permission to touch him, except for medically necessary procedures, or in an emergency.”

Saryx grinned, “Or if you’re offering to purchase the male and will pay a great deal of credits as you recognize him as a valuable commodity.”

Elise’s jaw dropped then she snorted and shook her head.

“Relax, Miss LaRue. Everything will be all right. Just remember the customs and make sure to go over your own with him and it will be okay.”

Saryx handed her a datapad, “While we wait why don’t you look at the available color palette for the binding collars. Your mate will also have a chance to look at them, and once you meet, you can see if any of them are matches. If the two of you can decide which one you want before we leave here, the facility can have them ready and waiting by the time we get there.”

Elise sat on a chair and began to look through the colors, her lips drew down in a frown over the basic color choices. You would think they could create different color schemes, then she noticed a palette button in the corner.

* * *

Arion rose from the medical gurney and touched the side of his head. He could not feel any difference in the scales along the area where the implant was. Then he raised his arm and ran a hand over the small, gold-colored bracelet wrapped around his wrist. The omni tool activated, and he blinked. The technician noticed his confusion and told him how to access the apps and return the omni tool to sleep mode. He quickly dressed in the clothing the Project had provided him before leaving Kahje and nodded when the technician asked if he was ready to go.

Elise nervously brushed at her clothes and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length, dark brown hair as they waited for the technician to bring her mate up to the transportation office. She had yet to find out his name or what his species was; she wracked her brain thinking of which one it could be and came up blank.

Arion followed the technician off the lift. When he heard females talking up ahead he froze in his tracks before reaching the corner. The technician was halfway to the women waiting for them when he realized his charge wasn’t behind him. The technician hurried back toward the lift and found Arion leaning against the wall breathing heavily.

“Are you all right? Do you need me to fetch a doctor?” he asked.

Arion shook his head and closed his eyes.

“Ah? Nervous?”

Arion nodded.

“Would you like for me to get your counselor? She’s right over there.”

Arion nodded.

A few minutes later the technician returned with Saryx then went to wait with Elise to give them privacy.

“Arion? What’s wrong?” Saryx asked. “Why are you so nervous?”

“This is… not like being given into a contract. My role was as a breeder. Nothing more, nothing less. It is all I know how to do. I do not know how to be a mate. I do not know what she expects of me.”

His fearfully whispered words almost broke her heart. Her specialized hearing implants let her hear the sub-harmonics of a turian, and now the sub-vocals of a drell as clearly as if they were using only one of their vocal chords.

“Let me give you a small piece of advice. She will expect a partner in all things, not just the bed. Treat her with respect and listen to what she says. Do not be afraid to ask her questions if you don’t understand something. Be kind, loyal, and patient as she learns about you. Let her know if something she does goes against your culture, but do it in a way as to explain it to her. She will do the same. She is just as nervous as you are. She does not know you are a drell. I showed you her holo to help put you more at ease.”

Saryx waited another minute before quietly telling him they needed to be on their way. “Were you given time to look over the datapad containing the collars?”

“Yes. There were so many and I didn’t know which to choose,” he said as he took several deep breaths and finally moved away from the wall.

“Good, Elise spent a long time looking at them as well, she is taking your bonding seriously. She chose your omni tool and implant.”

He touched the bracelet on his wrist and looked at her.

“She carefully looked all of them over and chose the one she thought would be easy enough for you to learn how to use, yet be powerful enough so it could be upgraded easily, and last you for quite a while.”

She tried to hide her smile as he stopped at the corner and peeked around it. Saryx glanced around him and saw Elise had her back to them talking with the technician.

She tried to give him time to ready himself, but they needed to hurry if they were going to get to the facility within the time frame she had requested.

Finally, he seemed to be ready and took a step around the corner.

When the technician told her the counselor was heading her way with her mate Elise swallowed nervously and turned around. She promptly dropped the datapad from her nerveless fingers when she got her first look at the male.

He was as orange as the sunset over the Gulf waters with dark stripes. She looked over at the technician, and he muttered, “He’s a drell. One of the first non-Compact males to step off their planet of Kahje in hundreds of years.”

She looked back and saw they were much closer now. Her eyes traveled over him again. His face had ridges where a human’s cheekbones would be, and a row of rounded ridges ran along the very top of his head, from just above where his forehead would be if he was a human, over the crown, and must have continued toward the back. The area where a human’s cheeks were was dark.

Next thing she noticed was his eyes. Black as night, but with round, dark orange pupils in the center. He was close enough and saw his stripes were actually a blue, and not black as she had assumed. The stripes reminded her of the blue sapphires in her mother’s wedding ring, with tiny patches of a lighter blue in them. The area of darkness on his cheeks was a deep, dark blue and looked like soft velvet. She could see additional areas of ridges along the sides of his head from above where his ears would have been, and running toward the back of his head and a smaller ridge between those and the large one along his crown.

He was taller than her by several inches, and from the way his clothing seemed molded to his body, he was heavily muscled and didn’t have an ounce of fat on him. Scales covered his face, and his strange four-fingered hands. There wasn’t a sign of hair anywhere.

No one said anything as the two stopped in front of Elise. She and Arion continued to stare at each other until he crouched down and picked up the datapad.

“You dropped this, hohoro ki te hei Viama,” his dual tones whispered as he held out the datapad to Elise.

Her mouth gaped open, and she stood there staring for a moment before starting to work her mouth open and close until something finally came out.

“Th-thank you, but I didn’t understand what you said.”

Saryx frowned and checked her own datapad, “Your translation software is still downloading the drell language, Elise. What he said was, ‘You dropped this, my soon to be wife.’ Viama is an honorific in his culture. Only those males who are chosen as permanent consorts to a female, what you refer to as husband, and have been issued the Covenant may use it. The binding between you supersedes the Covenant, and gives him the ability to use the honorific. It is his right to either refer to you by your given name or as his Viama. Most given the Covenant chose to use the honorific every time, as it shows their elevated status, except when they are alone, then they refer to each other by their names. The female would refer to the first male of the Covenant by the honorific of Suinima. The second and third by other names. Soul Mates work differently as there is only one for each person.”

Elise looked over at Saryx, “So I would refer to him as Suinima instead of his name? Which I still don’t know.”

Saryx laughed as her cheeks darkened in hue, “My apologies. Elise LaRue meet Arion, your Soul Mate. As far as referring to him, it is the female’s choice. In times where she may which to make it known he is no longer a breeder, and will no longer be available for contracts she will call him by the honorific assigned to him. From the information we have gathered they mainly call the males by their names.”

“I see,” Elise said and reached for the datapad. “Thank you, Arion. You don’t have a last name? A surname?”

The heavy ridges above Arion’s eyes drew down then he looked over at Saryx not understanding what Elise meant.

“The males do not, they are referred to by their name and home dome. On Kahje he would have been called Arion of the Eastern Dome, owned by Matriarch Drakou. Since he is no longer bound to a Matriarch, and will soon become your Soul Bound mate he is now known as Arion. You can give him your own surname if you wish it, just fill out the appropriate area on the form when we reach the facility. You can discuss it on the way over there. As it is, we are starting to run very late and must hurry. While I send the notice to them that we are preparing to depart why don’t you both compare the choices of collars, then send it before we enter the shuttle.”

Elise nodded and tapped on the datapad now in her hands. She cleared her throat before she said, “I had no idea you were a drell, or your coloration when I picked these out. I think I will need to revise them. Which ones did you choose? Maybe we have a match?”

Arion blinked and Elise gasped when she saw his nictitating membrane over his eyes then cleared her throat again and waited. “Viama, these are what I picked. I do not know if you like them.”

Elise looked at the three he selected; all basic colors. “You liked nothing from the color palette?”

His brow ridges drew down, and she held up her own datapad and showed him the various ones she designed, from brightly colored ones to darker shades, none of them from the basic list. “This icon means there is what humans refer to as a color palette, a guide with all the different shades and hues of colors. You can blend them together to make something unique. Let me show you.”

She tapped the icon, and an image appeared of a color wheel and above it a palette selector. She looked at his orange coloration, and at the blue stripes before humming and tapping on a blue icon. From there she manipulated the color wheel by adding more green into it and adjusting the blue levels until it satisfied her. “Ah, I like this one. It’s as vibrant as you are and reminds me of holos my parents sent me from one of their tropical island vacations. They called it Aruba Blue, although it’s a bit more green than blue. What do you think?”

He waited a moment to see if she really wanted his opinion. When she looked up at him, he blinked again. “I-I’ve always liked blue. Maybe-maybe we could try this?” He reached out and paused for a moment then started to tap and slide the parts of the wheel around like she had until he stopped on a mid-range blue.

“Hmm,” Elise hummed and held up the datapad near him. “This color reminds me of bluebells in bloom. It looks nice on you too, brings out the lighter blue speckles.” She looked at the color and the skin under his scales again then nodded. “Yes, yes, I think you’re right. This one. Now let’s see. Let’s go dark with the symbol so it stands out, shall we?”

His lips turned up in a smile as he understood she liked his choice better than her own and nodded. She slid the choice of collar color into the slot and tapped on the checkbox for complimentary dark colors. When the program finished, it presented them with a choice of ten different ones. They clicked one at a time and viewed a basic symbol against the bluebell color until they both chose the same dark, sooty gray. She clicked the checkbox and hit submit.

* * *

An officer for the Soul Mate Bindings met the small group at the door to the facility and ushered them inside and down a long hallway. He tapped a code into a keypad next to the door, and the door slid into the wall.

“Here are the collars they chose, I’ll need the couple to look over them with care to make sure they are correct before I begin the initial procedures and explain how to place the collars on each other during the ceremony,” the turian said and handed Saryx the metal box.

When she showed Arion and Elise the collars Elise pointed at one which was larger than the other. “Why does this one look different?”

Saryx pointed to the area in front of Arion’s neck, “The area along their cheeks and throat needs to be kept uncovered and unrestricted. The ribbing along the sides helps them to regulate their body temperature, while the area in front expands slightly due to a hyoid bone. It’s what gives them the ability to create the sounds they use with each other to express emotion, warnings, and other sounds outside the range of human hearing. It also keeps them from being choked. So, unlike your collar which will encircle your neck, his will come to a slight V shape in order to accommodate the differences.”

Elise nodded and checked over both of them before saying they satisfied her. Arion only nodded without taking his eyes off Elise.

The turian quickly explained to them about lining up the symbols along the opening at the back, and must be placed exactly over the spine, and smooth along their necks. No wrinkles, no gaps, and perfectly matched or the binding could fail. He assured them he would be there to help and would take care to check everything over before beginning the melding process.

Saryx stood off to the side as the binding officiate entered the room with a datapad in her hand and stood in her appointed spot. The turian officer led Arion and Elise over and positioned them in their spots. He looked to the officiate said they were ready to begin.

“Join hands, please. This is the official Soul Binding of Elise LaRue, female, human, age 28. Project Identification Number 157YT8854X922V and Arion, male drell, age 22. Project Identification Number D004T390Z4489BH. Both individuals have met their Government’s requirements and will now be bound together for life. The marks upon their bodies are a sign, a symbol of their souls choosing of each other. Today they will be bound together, their souls united as one.”

The officiate reached for a box held by the Soul Mate Project officer. She handed the collar to Arion. “This is the collar to be worn by your mate. Once in place it will become a permanent part of her body, as will yours. I will assume the Project official has instructed you in the proper placement?” Arion nodded and Elise turned around so Arion could put her collar on. Arion wrapped the collar around her neck and she held it in place as he carefully lined up the markings in the back and ran his fingers along the sides to ensure it laid smoothly. The official checked it, making sure it aligned properly, and the marking on it matched the one on the datapad.

The officiate then handed the larger collar to Elise. Arion crouched down slightly and held still as Elise put his collar on him. The turian checked it and asked Elise to smooth her fingers along the collar to make sure it was in direct contact with his scaled skin.

When she nodded Arion stood straight, and they both held hands again.

“Very good. Both of you understand this bonding is not to be taken lightly. Remember the two of you will be one, not to be torn asunder.” When they both said they understood she entered a code on her datapad, and the collars around their throats began to glow as both of them stiffened and grimaced in pain. After a moment the glow stopped and both of them sighed in relief.

The officiate handed the datapad to the official who carefully looked it over before saying, “The data has been registered into the Soul Mate Project files. The binding is now complete.”

The turian handed them each a card telling them if they had questions to use the contact number on there then he left.

“Congratulations both of you,” the officiate said as she handed Elise a datapad to look over. “Please add your thumbprint into the box as proof the ceremony took place, and the collar melded.” Elise touched her throat and felt nothing but skin. Saryx held up a mirror and showed Elise the collar had melded directly to her body. Elise swallowed then pressed her thumb down on the pad.

Arion did as he was instructed after running his own hand along the collar and making sure that the soft ribbing was free of restraint as was his throat.

“I will submit this to the Project immediately. Here is a copy of the Binding Agreement, a vid of the ceremony, and if you would stand over here the cam bot will take your binding holo.”

Saryx held out her hands telling them she would hold the documents for them and the officiate moved them into place after getting permission from Elise to touch Arion only in the capacity to arrange him for the holo.

“As this is the first binding of the drell species to take place on the Citadel, it is important we commemorate the event. We will place this holo next to the one received from Kahje showing the very first ceremony performed,” the officiate said then moved back behind the cam bot. “We’ll take a series of holos and chose the one which best represents this occasion.”

The two of them held themselves stiffly as the cam bot began taking holos. Saryx whispered something to the officiate who nodded, and told the couple to excuse them for a moment, something came up and needed their attention.

After a moment both of them relaxed and Elise looked up at Arion, “The color suits you.” She reached up and lightly touched it, “Mine no longer hurts, does yours?”

He smiled, “No, Viama. It does not, although it did when it glowed.”

Elise’s smile widened as she agreed with him. As she looked at him she noticed the orange of his pupils also held brilliant flecks of blue.

When the others returned, they went back to being stiff again as the officiate said she needed a few more. Arion and Elise waited while Saryx and the officiate went though the folder of holos and finally chose one.

Neither one had realized the cam bot was still taking holos when the officials had left them alone in the room. The holo chosen showed Elise touching Arion’s collar as they smiled at each other.

* * *

“Elise, here is the listing of the shops for Arion’s clothing and supplies. Since I doubt Earth will have them I suggest you stock up. You’ll be able to order everything over the extranet in the future for the same discounted price. I’ve already purchased your return flight tickets for the first shuttle to Earth in the morning; courtesy of the Project and the hotel has been paid for. The best of luck to you both remember if you have questions or need the services of the Project, contact me.” Saryx smiled at them both then entered the Project’s shuttle.

* * *

Elise huffed out a tired breath as she collapsed on the bed. Arion placed the shopping bags on a desk before asking if she was all right.

“Just tired, Arion. It’s been a long two days for me. All I want now is a nice hot shower, and to sleep until we have to leave in the morning.”

He frowned slightly as she groaned and sat up. “I’ll order us room service. I should be finished showering by the time it arrives,” she told him as she activated the room’s console.

He nodded then began to unpack the bags containing his items. His hands moved over everything from two more sets of the drell leathers, to the sand bathing kit and mat, to the various bottles of scale lotion. He remembered the stunned look on his Viama’s face when he informed her they did not use water to cleanse themselves with, but a sand system. He stacked everything neatly in one of the drawers then answered her question about what he wanted to eat.

Elise gathered her supplies and fired off a message to her mother telling her the updated time her shuttle would arrive at the airport then shuffling off to the bathroom. “If room service comes just open the door wide enough for them to push the cart inside. I’ve already paid and added the tip, don’t let them try to talk you out of more credits. Just thank them and shut the door. Make sure to slide the bolt closed and hit the red button marked secure.”

He said he would just as she closed the bathroom door.

They were in the middle of eating when her omni tool buzzed. “Hi, Mom. Did you get my message?”

“Yes, dear. That’s why I’m calling. I thought you would be gone all week? Did something happen?”

Elise snorted softly, “You could say that. The Project requested we leave as quickly as we could because of some incidents which happened here. They paid for the tickets and covered the hotel costs, at least. I’ll need Dad to pick us up at the airport though. You know what it’s like trying to find a skycab there.”

“I’ll let him know. So… where is he? Or she?”

“He... is here with me, and we’re eating right now, hence why this is a voice-only call and not a vid one.”

“Well, can I at least say hello to him? What’s his name? Where’s he from? How old is he? Does he have any children? Am I a grandma now?”

“Jeez, Mom, slow down,” Elise said and rolled her eyes.

“Well?” her mom said with a bit of impatience in her voice.

Elise waved her fork at Arion and motioned for him to answer. He cleared his throat then said, “Hello, my name is Arion.”

“Oh, hello there. Sweetheart, there’s either a bad connection or something is wrong with your omni tool. There seems to be a slight buzzing noise and echo.”

Elise snorted and started coughing when a piece of lettuce got stuck in her throat. “No, Mother. There’s nothing wrong with my omni tool or the connection. Arion has dual vocals, and the buzzing is part of his normal speech.”

There was a slight pause, “So Arion, you’re not a human? Where are you from?”

“Kahje. The Eastern Dome and pre-,” he said, and Elise cut him off before he could tell her about his previous owner.

“Mom, we’re really tired, it has been non-stop all day. Can this wait until we get home?”

Her mother let out an exasperated sigh and said, “I suppose so, dear. Several of your regular customers dropped by to see you, they wanted to pass on their congratulations for finding your Soul Mate. I told them you’d be back next week so they’ll probably stop by again. Sales have done fairly well. You’ll need to make up more of the supplement when you return, and your father made sure to place the daily reports from both your greenhouse and store on your desk. Everything is ready for you.”

“Thanks, Mom. I’ll need you guys to hang around for a day or two while Arion has time to start getting use to things. He’s not used to being around so many strange people, and our way of life is totally different than his.”

“We can do that, dear. We adjusted our vacation time to start again in four days so that should work out nicely. We’ll be back at the end of the month. Goodbye, and I hope you have a safe flight back. Arion, it was nice to talk to you, and I can’t wait to meet you.”

After she disconnected the call, she looked over at Arion, “It would be best not to mention you were previously owned by someone. Humans do not like the thought of it since we abolished slavery hundreds of years ago, and it’s looked upon as taboo except in certain small sects.”

“I see. I shall remember your words, but you do understand I was not a slave. I was a breeder for the highest-ranking Matriarch of the Eastern Dome.”

Elise laid her fork down, “I do understand, Arion. I meant no offense. It is just my people cannot always see things the way others do. To them being owned by someone is nothing to be proud of and owning someone is a crime and immoral. I don’t want people to think badly of you. I want them to accept you as my husband and not refer to you as a former slave. My people can be cruel to each other.”

Arion looked at her and nodded. “I will refrain from mentioning it, if that is your wish.” He lowered his eyes to the half-eaten food in front of him. “My people can also be very cruel to those they deem of lower station.”

They finished eating and as Elise pushed the cart out the hotel door and into the hallway Arion picked up the sand bathing kit and tucked the mat under his arm. “I wish to cleanse myself, Elise. With your permission?”

“Sure. And you don’t need to ask permission. Enjoy your bath, Arion. I’m hitting the hay,” she said then yawned widely.

“I beg your pardon?”

She laughed. “It means I’m going to bed.”

“Ah. I shall be finished shortly.”

When he exited the bathroom and slid into the bed to do his duty to his Viama, he found her sound asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Elise groaned as her alarm went off. She frowned as she wondered what the whistling noise was she kept hearing. Then she remembered she was married and the whistling noise sounded a lot like some sounds which came from Arion the day before. She twisted slightly to look over her shoulder and found him curled around her. The whistles came from him each time he breathed out.

Her omni tool buzzed again reminding her they had less than two hours to get packed, eat, and be at the shuttle stop for Earth. She tried to lift his arm from around her waist, but it was heavy and felt like an iron band wrapped around her.

“Arion? Arion, wake up. We need to get ready to leave.”

He shifted and one last whistle came from him before he sleepily mumbled, “Of course, Mistress. I’ll do my duty.” Then he tried to roll her onto her back.

“Whoa, wake up Arion,” she said as she pushed against his shoulders. Her hands encountered cool scales beneath her palms as she shoved at him.

“Elise? What is wrong?”

“You need to wake up, and let me go,” she said.

He blinked several times then slowly rolled away from her. “As you wish.” After he moved away from her, Elise scrambled from the bed.

“We’ve got less than two hours so we have to get moving. I’ll order a quick breakfast while you get changed. We’ll pack the rest of your things in my suitcase,” she said as she dragged the set of clothes from the drawer and dumped them on the bed.

“Of course, Elise. It won’t take me long to change.”

“That’s good. I’ll just order you…” She forgot what she was about to say as he came into view. He was completely naked and unconcerned about her seeing him. She couldn’t help herself, her eyes traveled his body and realized the leather clothes he had on the day before had definitely been molded to him as he was all well-toned muscle. She frowned and felt her cheeks heat as she looked away from him. He also didn’t have any dangly parts.

Breakfast was a rushed affair of eating while trying to get everything gathered back up. She stuffed her clothes and his into the single piece of luggage she brought with her then laid on it while he flipped the latches closed. She ran her omni tool under the scanner for a self-checkout once she made sure the drawers were empty and they had everything out of the bathroom.

By the time they made it through the customary check-in at the skyport, and having the officials check every piece of documentation the Soul Mate Project issued for Arion’s travel, they ended up with less than ten minutes to get on the shuttle and find their seats.

They buckled in just as the attendants closed the shuttle doors and told everyone it was time to lift off.

Arion grabbed for Elise’s hand and she held on tight, afraid several times he would crush her fingers before he calmed down. She talked to him and stroked the hand which had a death-grip on hers as the shuttle exited the Citadel’s artificial atmosphere.

Once they were on the way to the system’s mass effect relay his breathing calmed down, but he still retained the hold on her hand.

“It’s all right, Arion. It’s a smooth flight from here to Earth. Just a few hours until we reach the Relay then a very short hop through it, and another six hours until we land.”

“Miss? Is there anything I can help your friend with?” The sultry voice of the flight attendant came from the isle as the slinky woman stood there and licked her lips as her eyes traveled over Arion.

“No, thank you. My Soul Mate and I are just fine. I’m sure there are other passengers who need something,” Elise frostily said to the woman and indicated the Soul Bound Collar around her neck.

The woman huffed and gave Arion the once over again before oozing her way down the aisle and giving a false laugh at something another passenger said before she flirted with yet another male.

Elise shook her head and glanced at Arion. He was staring at her with those black and orange eyes and frowning.

“Viama? What is wrong?”

“Nothing, Arion. Are you doing better? Not so nervous now?”

Arion squeezed her hand again and didn’t take his eyes from her. “I am still frightened. This is my second time being on a shuttle, and I dislike the thought of not being on the ground or in the domed city, but with you talking to me and touching me, my fear is lessening.”

Elise smiled, “That’s good. Why don’t I tell you a bit about Earth and your new home?”

He smiled, “I would like that very much, Viama.”

* * *

Elise sighed as the announcement that the shuttle would land in twenty minutes came over the speakers. She adjusted her seat and checked her and Arion’s safety belts.

“Don’t forget to grab your kit bag from the compartment, Arion. We must go through the new arrivals area before we pick up the suitcase. My dad should be waiting for us at the departure pick-up gate.”

A very frustrating thirty minutes later with every female and quite a few males ogling Arion with some of them being rude enough to try to touch him, Elise finally notified a security guard, and he paged the Soul Mate representative at the skyport for help.

“We are sorry for this inconvenience. We should have known your Soul Mate would cause a sensation here. With drell rarely being seen off Kahje we should have met you and brought you through a different way,” the representative said as he guided them through several service tunnels and into a small office. “I’ve sent one of the security officers to the baggage claim area to pick up your luggage.”

Elise sent her father a quick message of the change of location to meet. His answer came back saying he’d move the skycar and asked what was going on. She said she’d explain once they were in the car and on the way home.

When Elise took hold of Arion’s hand as they waited for the guard to escort them to the employee entrance he smiled down at her and tightened the grip. “I do not understand the way some of these humans are reacting to one of my kind, but I am very interested in seeing my new home, and these roses you spoke of. The Western Dome Matriarch supplies the floral products which are sold to the other Matriarchs and used to create the light scented scale conditioners. Only the most sought after breeders are given the lotions as part of their completed contracts. There was one from my dome which received a bathing kit with both the lotions and the polishing sand scented with the flowers when he sired a female child.”

She grinned, “Well, I don’t sell lotions or anything like that, but the shop does decent business, and always smells heavenly. After you get settled, I’ll start showing you around the town and also the business. It’s a family florist, and you’re my family now so we’re both going to be working there.”

Arion blinked and looked away for a moment then back down at her, “I know nothing besides breeding with a female. I am unsure I could perform the duties of working in the florist shop.”

Elise chucked, “It’s easy to work in the shop. The worst thing is working with the people who can’t decide what they want and change their mind a half dozen times before buying their original choice of a bouquet or flower. The hard part is the greenhouse and growing the flowers, I handle that. No one other than me goes inside the greenhouse, it’s the only way I can make certain nothing is introduced into it which can adversely affect them.”

“So I could not see these flowers?”

“You’ll be able to see them, but not inside the greenhouse...at least not at first. Not even my parents go into the greenhouse,” she said then pointed out the guard coming their way. Arion picked up the small kit bag containing his sand bathing system and other hygiene equipment then followed his Viama toward the door marked Exit.

Elise waved at the older male standing next to a small, green skycar. “Dad, over here.”

The man waved back and stopped in mid-wave when he spotted the orange male standing next to his daughter. He gave a half-hearted final wave before opening the boot of the car so they could place their bags inside.

“Dad, this is my Soul Mate, Arion LaRue. Arion, this is my dad, Bastien LaRue.”

“LaRue? He took our surname?” Bastien asked with a thick Cajun accent and a slight smile at the two standing in front of him. His dark brown eyes drawn toward the vibrantly colored male again and again.

“It’s a long story, Dad. Right now, though, we need to get out of here before someone spots him and follows us home,” Elise said as she tugged Arion’s hand and they entered the skycar.

Arion kept his gaze on the side window as the small car zipped toward the historical section of the town. Elise would point to something and tell him a fact or two about it.

Arion blinked when the sunlight flashed off one of the multi-storied buildings. “It always rains on Kahje. They encase our living areas in domes, and special lights create an artificial sunlight for us.”

Bastien glanced back at them as he said, “It doesn’t always rain here, but when it does, it can be really bad. The storms we get have destroyed our town many times. The new system they have in place seems to work though. As long as there’s enough warning the domes can be raised so it can protect the sections of town from the worst of it.”

The small skycar dove out of the lane of traffic and entered an under-platform parking deck. “This is the deck assigned to the business owners where Elise’s flower shop is. Only those people who live here or are the business owners have access. Everyone else has to use the larger parking deck in the new section and take free transits into the historical area,” Bastien said as the car slid neatly into a slot with a small sign which read _Whimsical Bloom_.

Bastien carried the large suitcase for them as he followed behind his daughter and her very unusual Soul Mate as they approached the lift to go up to street level. Elise explained the transit system to Arion as she held her omni tool under a scanner marked, “For Resident Use Only.”

“We pay a bit extra a month for use of these private cars instead of trying to get the free public transit ones. I’ll take care of adding your information into the system so you will have use of them as well if you decide you’d like to go into town. The GPS app on your omni tool will guide you to certain kiosks to use to get one of these. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck waiting for the bus. Normally we’d just walk from the parking garage to the shop, but with the luggage, we’ll use a car.”

Five short minutes later the skycar halted in front of the shop and Arion got his first look at his new home.

He blinked several times before turning his face up to the brightly shining sun and closing his eyes.

Bastien’s eyebrows rose when he heard strange hums and buzzes coming from his son-in-law. Elise grinned and shrugged at her father as they waited until Arion sighed and looked back down at her.

“Earth’s sun is quite pleasing. I’ve never felt real sunlight on my scales before.”

She grinned at him and said, “We’ve got a small eating area on the roof we use for summer cookouts. You’ll love it. This is our storefront. Whimsical Bloom. I own or will own, this entire building as soon as I pay off the remodeling loan. This is also our home.”

She led him toward a door on the side of the building. The sign read Private Entrance. Keep out. Do Not Block Doorway. She held up her omni tool to the scanner and waited. Once the holo-screen lit up, she put in a six-digit code and they heard a click as the door unlocked. “We’ll also set your personal entry data into the security system. Each family member has a different one so the service can tell who is here and who isn’t in case there’s an emergency.”

“There’s also a shop entrance we can use to go upstairs to the apartment. I don’t use that one unless I’m closing the shop down for the night. People have a funny habit of knocking on the shop’s door or window if they see someone working inside expecting them to open up so they can look or shop even if it’s outside of the posted operating hours.”

She pointed to a door painted a light brown. “That leads to the shop and is always kept locked.” She started up the first set of stairs. “The main apartment is two floors with roof access both from inside the apartment and from this stairwell.”

She passed her omni tool over another entry keypad and put in her code then waited as the door slid open for them.

“Mom? We’re here,” Elise called out as she walked into the apartment.

A woman’s voice called out from further in the apartment telling them she would be out in a minute.

“I’ll put your bag upstairs in the bedroom, Elise. Arion, if you’d like I can take up your bag as well.”

Arion blinked at him then looked toward Elise.

“It’s all right. We help each other with things,” she said as she grinned at him. “We multi-task.”

Arion’s brow plates drew together letting her know that he didn’t understand her but nodded anyway and held out the bag. “This contains my bathing system.”

Bastien’s eyebrow rose as he took the bag from Arion, “I’ll put it in the master bathroom for you.”

Elise grasped Arion by his hand and tugged on him. He followed her but his attention was on his surroundings.

The entire space was open with strategically placed dividing screens to give it the illusion of individual rooms. To the one side of the door was a space with a seating arrangement, holo-projector, and several low tables that held candles and small knickknacks.

The other side of the room was an area divided into a large kitchen and dining area. Bright landscape paintings hung on the walls and lights shaped liked candles inside wall holders flanked each one. A pair of white-painted stools with bright red padding on the seats sat tucked under a long bar separating the dining room and kitchen.

The dining room furniture was a white-painted wood with the same bright red seat cushions. In the center of the table was a large, clear, cut-crystal vase holding an enormous bouquet of mixed flowers in an assortment of colors.

“These are the flowers you grow?” Arion asked as he leaned toward the arrangement and breathed in their spicy scents.

“Yes, I arranged those a few days before I left to go to the Citadel,” Elise said and smiled as she watched him lean in and smell them again before touching the soft petals of a crimson-colored rose. “Later we’ll go down to the shop and I’ll show you all the flowers I sell here. My parents will continue to run the shop for the rest of the week while you settle in and I show you around. Starting next week I’ll be back to work though and won’t have much free time.”

Bastien entered the dining area and heard the last part of what Elise said. “With Arion here, you should at least have it easier if he will be helping in the shop. Even if it’s only running the customer help desk and wrapping up the bouquets; that is the worst part of the job.”

Elise laughed, “You just hate it because all the ribbons you tie end up having lopsided bows.”

“Like I said, the worst part of the job.” He laughed then turned when he heard his wife hurrying toward them.

“Elise dear, sorry about not coming with your father to pick you and Arion up at the skyport, but as usual I was running late this morning,” Elise’s mother stopped dead in her tracks when she caught sight of Arion touching each of the blooms in the floral arrangement.

“Mom, this is Arion LaRue, my Soul Mate. Arion, this is my mother, Kathrine LaRue.”

Her mother blinked several times while trying to keep herself from staring at Arion even longer then smiled at them both. “It is nice to meet you, Arion. Welcome to the family. I noticed Elise called you a LaRue, may I ask what made you decide to take her last name?”

“It’s a pretty long story, but I’ll give you the quick version for now since the store needs to be opened in an hour,” Elise said as she indicated the living room. Once everyone sat down she leaned back on the couch and began.

“Arion is a drell, his homeworld of Kahje is also home to the hanar. It wasn’t until six months ago that his people joined the Soul Mate Project. There have only been twenty matched males so far. From what our counselor told me this is the first time the males have left their homeworld since the Hanar rescued their species.”

“Oh dear, the Citadel must have been quite a shock to you,” Kathrine said.

Arion nodded, “It was indeed. Almost as great a shock as learning, less than a week after being added to the database, that I had a Soul Mate who wasn’t a drell.”

“That sounds like what happened when humans were included in the database. The first few months were crazy. So many people finding their matches, many were already married and had kids. They didn’t know what would happen. The Project people were wonderfully understanding, as were many of the non-human Soul Mates. We were just getting used to an entire galaxy of aliens and then that dropped on top of it, but, it’s working out for so many people now,” Bastien said to them and Kathrine nodded.

“Now, Arion dear, tell us a bit about the drell and what you did for a living there,” Kathrine said and Elise winced.

“That may need to wait until tonight, Mom when we have more time. There’s a lot to explain. Arion’s society is Matriarchal and a lot different from ours.”

“Oh, I see. Well, tell us about why you chose to take our last name then?” Bastien asked.

“As a male drell who is unbound to a Matriarch I did not have a…,” there was a slight pause as Arion blinked, “a surname. Viama and I spoke on the way to the binding facility and we accepted the optional condition of becoming Arion LaRue.”

“Viama? He doesn’t know your first name?” Kathrine asked with a shocked tone of voice.

“No, I know her name is Elise LaRue, but as her Soul Mate I have the privilege of using the honorific of Viama,” Arion said.

“Viama means wife in his society. Only a select few males are given the right to use it. It’s a status thing in their culture,” Elise explained, her cheeks once again heating up under her parent’s scrutiny. “On Kahje they would know him as my Suinima and afforded the highest standing there the males can hold.”

“Well, that certainly needs further explanation,” Bastien said as he looked closer at Arion. “Except now we have to get going if we’re to get the store open on time. The daily print outs are on your desk, and I don’t know if your mother told you or not but you’re running short on the supplemental packets.”

Elise nodded, “I’ll make more after I check everything, and help get Arion settled.”


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

Elise cleared several drawers in her dresser and rearranged her closet so Arion had space for his items, all the while she answered his questions about their home and shop.

“What is this supplement your father spoke of?”

Elise hesitated for a moment before turning toward him and leaning on the door frame.

“According to the files, the males of your species are very loyal to their females. I’m hoping that will extend to your human wife as well.”

Arion looked over at her, he still held a set of soft cotton pants in his hands as he said, “Of course, Viama. I am your Suinima, it is my honor to be so, and even though our binding is new, I will forever be loyal and honest with you.”

Elise stared at him for a few seconds, “All right. My great-great-grandmother discovered a formula for partially preserving flowers. Not like the chemical stuff most florists use which doesn’t preserve the flower in its natural state. Those horrid chemicals turn the flowers plastic-y, destroying the bloom in the process. It only looks fresh, but might as well be made out of plastic and wire. No scent and the petals turn hard.

“The concoction our family uses is different. The flower lasts for several weeks after being cut. It retains its scent and natural texture.

“It’s a family-held trade secret which is passed from one LaRue to another and not shared outside of those two people. A good deal of large manufacturing and florist companies have tried to reproduce it, but as yet they can’t. According to the Trade Secret Act they can continue to try, but won’t be able to patent it. We have to do everything we can to keep others from learning the secret and voiding the documents. Our family has held this secret close to us for nearly 170 years now.”

“They tried to steal this secret?”

Elise nodded and watched as Arion neatly placed more items into his dresser drawer before smoothing the tops out and closing it. “Many have through the years, some have come pretty close, but there’s something they just don’t seem to understand. We don’t keep the formula written down anywhere,” she tapped her temple with a finger. “It’s all kept up here and passed by mouth and taught to us as a child. They could take every bottle and jar from my lab and workroom, and they still wouldn’t be able to figure it out unless I or someone who knows the recipe shows them how to make it. It’s not the ingredients themselves which are the secret, but the way it’s made.”

“Your father taught you this secret?” Arion asked as he hung his leather suits on hangers Elise had placed on the bed.

“No. Grandmother LaRue did. Her mother, who learned it from her mother taught her. My father or aunt had no interest in flowers or running the shop. I showed interest in plants as a toddler, and flowers thrived under my care when I stayed during the spring and summer months with Grandma LaRue. I began to learn the secrets when I was eight years old and took over the business when I turned 18. The shop has been in the LaRue family since 1890 and has always been a florist.”

* * *

Elise programmed the security system with Arion’s chosen passkey and set up an email and messaging app on his omni tool.

“I need to go over the accounts and records before heading to the roof. Feel free to look around the apartment, get something to eat, or just relax. This is your home now. The other door on the second floor leads to my lab and workshop, it’s always locked unless I happen to be in there at the time. The only thing I ask is if you know I’m in there making the supplement you don’t attempt to open the door. Any other time when I’m in there and you want to come in you can.”

Arion nodded before wandering out into the living room and looking at everything. He touched the paintings on the walls, picked up several datapads containing half-read novels; their bookmarks dated months ago.

In the kitchen, he opened every cupboard door before opening the cooler and looking at every label and smelling its contents before putting it back.

“What are you doing?” Elise asked as she watched him open the milk carton and smell it before putting it back.

He closed the door and said, “Drell have eidetic memories. We forget nothing, not what we see, touch, hear, smell, or taste. I look at the object, smell it or taste it so I know what it is from now on.”

“Oh.” She watched him read more labels on cans and bottles in a different cupboard before she said, “I’m heading up to the greenhouse. Why don’t you come up and spend some time sitting on the patio? I think you’ll like the view and the sun.”

He smiled at her and nodded, “Yes, I think I’d like that very much.”

* * *

Elise put in her security code to the greenhouse door after checking the readout. The door closed behind her and she sighed in pleasure as she glimpsed her plants. She hummed as she tended row after row of flowers. Testing the soil and water levels before gathering the blooms ready to be harvested and moving to the next plant.

When Elise finished harvesting the section of flowers, she dipped the cut ends into a dark crystalline powder and placed them into a waiting portable cooler. She sent a message down to her father asking for a quick inventory of the potted houseplants they still had in the store. When he sent her the list she pulled several small potted violets from their shelf and added them to a box. Then several hanging ferns, bright leafy plants with pink and red flowers, and another with dark green leaves and large, white, waxy blooms were lifted down off their hooks and placed in a rectangular box, and loaded onto the pallet where the cooler sat.

When she was satisfied she had everything the store needed to restock, she activated the mass effect field on the pallet and it raised several inches off the floor.

* * *

Arion moved to the safety rail and peered over the side. He blinked a few times as he memorized the view before he looked over the cityscape. He took in the difference in the buildings spread out in front of him and to the sides before lifting his face once again to the bright sun shining down on him. He smiled and moved to one of the cushioned metal chairs and sat down before screwing off the top to a bottle of water and activating his omni tool.

A few hours later he heard the beeping of the keypad on the greenhouse and closed out the information on Earth and Human culture he was reading and stood up. Elise came out pulling a floating wooden pallet behind her.

“I hope you didn’t get bored waiting out here,” she said and smiled at him as he shook his head.

“I kept busy by reading about your culture and about my new home on Earth.”

She locked the greenhouse door and headed for a door he found locked earlier. “This leads to an old-fashioned lift down to the stockroom of the shop. I use this to deliver the flowers and to bring shipments up to the greenhouse.”

She pulled up on a strap lying on the floor and the safety gate on the lift rolled up, then she pulled the metal cage door to the side and pushed the pallet inside. “Come on, might as well see the store too since I’m heading down there.”

Arion hurried into the cage and stood nervously beside her as she tugged on the strap. The clang of the metal safety gate echoed in the small room when it hit the floor. She closed the metal cage before turning to him. “You’ll feel a slight jerk and it might make you feel off balance. Don’t be afraid, this thing may look ancient but it’s been updated and is serviced regularly. I just like to keep it looking original.” She wrapped her hand around a lever on the wall and slowly pulled it back until it clicked twice. The lift gave a small shudder and started to lower. Arion stumbled slightly and grabbed onto the metal cage door tightly until he felt balanced again and let go.

The lift came to a slight bouncing stop and Arion grabbed the metal cage door again as Elise pushed a bright red button on a panel. “You all right? It wasn’t all that bad, was it?”

“It’s not that it was bad, just… jarring,” he said with a slight grin as she laughed.

“You’ll get used to it, eventually.” Elise pulled the pallet out of the lift before reaching back in and pulling out the red button again. She closed the gates and moved toward a door opposite them.

“This leads directly into the storeroom. It’s where I store things like vases, ribbons, and boxes for the bouquets. Part of your job will be making sure those products are well stocked, and this part of the shop is kept clean and organized. I’ll show you where everything is located, don’t worry it’s easy, you’ll do fine.” She smiled at him as she unlocked the door.

Arion glanced around and took in the neatly labeled boxes and racks. “Arion, can you carry the large box with the hanging plants in it while I carry the violets?”

“Of course, Viama,” he looked at the crates on the pallet and picked up the larger of two containers and followed her into the store. His eyes darted everywhere seeing splashes of bright colors along the walls, potted plants on small display racks, and an entire section of glass enclosures.

“Over here are the house plants. These are miniature violets, and the ones you are carrying hang on the bar above us.” She placed the small pots containing flowers of pink, white, or purple on the shelf as he lifted the hanging plants up and hooked them above her.

“Each pot has an identifying label on it. When someone brings a plant to the counter where Mom is standing you slide it across the dark glass section and it registers the plant into the system. It brings up the price and care sheet on it. You ask the customer if they would like a receipt and the care sheet, if they do then you tap the green button and it prints it out. Here I’ll show you,” she said and removed the last of the violet containers from her box and carried it to the counter to show him.

Arion watched carefully and nodded that he understood. They carried the empty crates back to the storeroom. Elise picked up a plastic basket and began to remove the cut flowers from the cooler, naming each one as she did and let him smell the flower before placing it in the basket.

“Customers can purchase the cut flowers individually, in a prearranged bouquet, or a custom-designed one. We scan the arrangements just like the potted house plants. The single flowers are manually inputted into the register.”

She showed him how to access the cut flower section, then randomly chose one flower he knew the name of and entered the quantity. “See how it fills everything in for you?” He nodded, and she showed him the bouquet bench. “If the customer wants the single flowers wrapped you take one of these sheets of acid-free paper, and add two sprigs of baby’s breath, and two fern stems, and arrange it like this,” she put it all together and rolled them into the paper.

“Ask them what color ribbon they would like to have, then tie it around the stems and finish it off with a nice, neat bow.”

Bastien snorted, “Neat bow… only Elise and my mother ever made the perfect bows without relying on a machine to do it. So don’t worry about being perfect and neat.”

Elise stuck her tongue out at her father, “Once you’ve tied the bow, take one of these small, green packets and tuck it into the ribbon. This is the supplement I told you about. The customer needs to be told to mix it into a cup of room temperature water before pouring it into their own vase and placing the flowers into it.”

A tinkling noise sounded as the door to the shop opened and a woman walked in. “Elise, I was walking past and looked in the store window. I saw you were inside and decided to come to see you. How did it go? Is this bright orange man your Soul Mate?”

The older lady shuffled toward the counter as Elise greeted her with a smile and nod, “Good afternoon, Mrs. McCoy. This is Arion, and he is indeed my Soul Mate.”

“Well well, I’ve never seen one of your kind before. Welcome to New Orleans and our neighborhood. I hope you’ll like it here and will watch over our dear Elise.”

“Thank you for the kind welcome. It is my honor and duty to be of service to my Viama; to Elise.”

“Oh, a polite one he is. Good, good. Now, Elise, I need some of your fertilizer for my wonderful little violet.”

“I’ll get it for you, Mrs. McCoy,” Kathrine said and smiled at the woman before hurrying over to the shelf next to the plants and grabbing a small container. “Will there be anything else for you today?”

“No, Kathrine, that’s all I need this time. How was your vacation?”

“It was a beautiful destination. We’re going back soon.”

“That’s nice, dear.”

Arion watched closely as Kathrine slid the small jar over the black glass and checked the readout.

“Would you like a printed receipt and usage sheet?” Kathrine asked and the other woman gave a delicate snort.

“No, I would not. I’ve been buying this fertilizer from here for the past seventy-five years. I might be old, but I still remember how to mix it.”

Bastien laughed as he placed the jar into a small ribbon-handled carry bag with the store logo on it. “Thank you for your business, Mrs. McCoy.”

* * *

Elise told her family she needed to do some work in her lab, and Arion asked if he could continue to observe her parents down in the shop. They happily agreed.

After locking her lab door Elise put on the cleanroom gear and unlocked the inner door. After the fiasco with Jean-Paul, she had to decontaminate the room completely and destroy all the chemicals she had stored in there for fear he had tampered with them. Having a quarian cleaning and sterilization crew come in to do the work, and set up a clean lab had set her back quite a few credits, but the extra security and cleanroom operation had gained her a huge jump in reputation with the Horticultural Society.

There were two parts to the lab room, one was a workshop where she did all the cross-breeding and growing of the cultivars. The other side was the actual lab where she made the supplement. It was to that side she went and slid the glass door closed behind her.

Elise took down several colored glass jars and lined them up. Then she brought down the two clear jars and put them into their place in the line. She gathered the rest of the equipment she would need then started humming a tune she learned as a child.

Two hours later she picked up an old, hand-painted ceramic jar and made sure the air-tight seal on it was in place before she walked out of the lab with the jar securely held in her hands.

“Arion, would you mind coming into the backroom please?” Elise said and grinned when he immediately put the huge bouquet of mixed lilies down from where he had his face practically buried in them and rushed to join her.

She led him over to a small machine in the room's corner and placed the ceramic jar down on a metal table that also held a small wooden box. “All right, because I don’t want to take the chance on being overheard by a customer I will only tell you this once.” She glanced around to make sure no customers were looking at the display of replanting pots and crystal vases before she whispered to him. “This ceramic jar contains the completed supplement. This machine is used to package it up, but you must do exactly as I show you. You can’t just dump the mixture into the machine and have it work. Normally I’d do this when the store is closed, and only this room’s light on with the door shut and locked, but with Mom and Dad out there they’ll help to keep any nosy busy-bodies away from the area.”

He nodded and watched her very carefully load a roll of green foil wrap with the store’s logo printed on it into one end of the machine. She slowly fed it through several rollers showing him the shiny plain side was face up while the green side laid against the conveyor belt.

“It’s important to make sure we load the foil like this so they see our company logo, otherwise only the silver side shows and the packet won’t look right.” She lifted the lid of a small compartment on the machine then removed the lid on the jar. “This jar is very important to our family. It is very, very old and must be treated with care.”

“What is this?” he asked as he touched the childish art on the front of the jar.

“A scene that tells a story. A blue sky filled with a rainbow of colors, birds, and butterflies that flit from flower to flower. This jar has been in the family since my great-great-grandmother ran the flower shop. It’s another reason we use it to store the supplement in.”

“When we make the supplement packets, this jar and box must remain with us at all times until we take them back up to the apartment and put back. Now, first, we set the machine to how many packets we want to make. Let’s set it for twenty, this way you get a good amount of time to watch what happens and to make sure it is all running smoothly.”

Elise unlocked the box that sat on the metal table and removed an odd-looking, wooden spoon from inside and showed it to Arion. The handle of the spoon was long and held the patina that came from constant use over an extended time period. The bowl of the spoon was rather tiny and he couldn’t see how it would hold much of anything.

“This is the measuring spoon. When these packets are made this is the only spoon to use, nothing else. If you accidentally lose or break the spoon tell me immediately. I would have to contact a local artisan to make another, and it would take a while because he would have to hand carve it. Just try not to damage it though, my Grandma LaRue used this one, and it’s dear to me.”

She turned the spoon over so he could see the back, “I luv U, Granma.”

“I did that when I was six. I didn’t know it was a special spoon, only something my Grandma LaRue kept with her most of the time. When she saw what I did she didn’t get mad, just hugged me and told me she loved me too. Then she invited me to spend the spring and summer with her. That’s when she started teaching me about flowers and how to care for them.”

He gently touched the words on the spoon and smiled at her, “I will take great care with this spoon.”

She smiled and nodded, “Such a silly thing to be sentimental over, but there it is. So, back to the packets. Dip the spoon into the jar, fill the bowl, and give it a gentle tap along the rim to knock off the excess. Too much supplement and the flowers turn dark, too little and they fail to preserve properly and don’t last very long. Do you see how the powder is only slightly mounded now?” He nodded.

“Dump the powder into the small compartment. Do that for each packet you’ve programmed the machine for. Here, you try it,” she said and handed him the spoon.

He blinked and repeated what she showed him. “Tap it just a bit harder, there’s a bit too much still on there.” He did as she said and she peered thoughtfully at the spoon holding the dark crystalline powder before she told him it was right. “Not very scientific, but you’ll see it is very accurate once you get better at it.”

He finished up the rest of the spoonfuls and she pointed at the machine’s display. “The machine will measure out one gram of the powder for each packet. The spoon’s bowl scoops up exactly that amount if you tap it as I showed you. Other spoons will scoop too much or too little. If the supplement is not made properly the weight changes, and if that happens the measurement is off, as is the compound itself. So it all goes to hell. It’s one reason those other companies won’t figure it out and be able to reproduce it. The supplement can’t be made in large quantities without error, and those errors will screw it all up. You can’t just take a big scoop and dump in the powder until it reads the amount you need either. It’s got to be done one slow, careful spoonful at a time, and for those big companies all they see is time equals money and the faster the better.”

She pressed the start button, and the machine hummed to life. The foil began feeding into the machine and the display counted down from twenty to zero. Elise pulled out a small tray and showed him the finished packets; sealed, and all neatly lined up inside. The shiny green foil proudly displayed the white logo reading Whimsical Bloom with a rosebud design in the middle.

She emptied the tray of packets before sliding it back into the machine, “Now we just need to make another hundred packets, and it should keep us stocked for the rest of the week.”


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

Arion watched the humans with rapt curiosity. Everything they did and said, blinking and whispering to himself once in a while as he listened to Kathrine rattle off the list of cut flowers they sold when a customer entered their shop and asked. Many of them stopped to stand there and stare at him until Bastien asked if there was a problem. Most of them muttered or stammered out a no before grabbing a random item off the shelf to buy.

Every once in a while they would see him pick a jar or bottle off a shelf and read the label before blinking and putting it back.

Arion watched closely as Elise carefully wrapped a dozen deep-red roses into a bundle and tied the bow around it.

“See… a perfectly formed bow. Disgusting,” her father said and started laughing.

Several more regular customers or those that lived and owned their own businesses in the historical area stopped by to congratulate them on their binding and to see who Elise’s mate turned out to be. Every person could only stare in surprise and quite a few of the older ones shook their heads and said they never heard of such a species. Arion told them the drell rarely left their homeworld and had few interactions with other species so it was to be expected. Most of them were startled at his politeness.

Bastien would raise an eyebrow once in a while when Arion would rush to Elise’s side to help her bring something down from a higher shelf or lift something for her always with an “it’s my duty to you, Viama.”

After the shop closed for the night and they activated the security system, the family went up to the apartment where Elise began to make their dinner and her parents got to know Arion a bit better. It wasn’t until they were having their desserts when the awkward questions were asked.

“So Arion, you’ve told us that your society is Matriarchal. Females hold the positions of power and government. What exactly was your job? You seem to have picked up some workings of the shop in less than a day,” her father said.

Elise slowly lowered the fork that held a bite of the neighborhood bakery’s pie on it as Arion sat quietly, waiting to see if she would allow him to answer truthfully or only give his Viama’s parents a half-truth.

Elise glanced at Arion out of the corner of her eye and saw the way he stared down at his plate and she sighed.

“It’s all right, Arion. Explain it,” Elise mumbled.

“Drell males are trained for almost every job. From shopkeepers to farmers. They send some to the hanar to train to do specialized jobs for them. Then there are others trained to… fulfill the needs of households. From cooking the meals to cleaning. From making sure the rights and regulations toward the other males listed in their household or the… guests are upheld, to being a special guest of the Matriarch or her daughters.”

“Huh. Since you said you didn’t run a shop I suppose you held a household position? Nothing wrong with making sure a home runs smoothly, especially if you have many others to care for,” Kathrine said as she placed her water glass back on the table.

Arion glanced at Elise. She tightened the grip on her fork before she nodded.

“Arion didn’t hold that sort of position. Their species are few in numbers. From what our counselor told me they number fewer than 500,000. Most of them are males. They can’t seem to produce many females, and they have very limited resources or land to live on. Households are… different there,” she swallowed nervously.

“The males are property of the females and given certain places within a male hierarchy. Top of the hierarchy are the ones given the Covenant as a Suinima. It is comparative to your marriage or our binding. It goes from there. “The lower tier husbands, then the consorts kept solely within the house. Then the breeders for reproduction purposes outside of the immediate household. They contract us out to keep the bloodlines from stagnation. They are very careful in keeping records to prevent interbreeding. It is an honor to be one of the royal family’s chosen breeding males. Our contracts are clear in our duties and protects us. The lower Matriarchs will often contract out their males to the upper-class females to help keep them from interbreeding as well, although that is rare. The commoner females usually purchase one or two breeder males who do not have the qualities the Matriarchs look for in their breeders. They usually become their husbands and form a single-family unit and are not contracted out.”

Not a sound was heard once Arion finished his quick rundown of the male’s role in the Drell Conclave.

Bastien cleared his throat roughly before speaking, “And your exact role?”

“My Matriarch raised and trained me as a breeder. I was under contract to sire a child with a daughter of a higher tier Matriarch when the Ariki, our Ruling Matriarch, joined the Soul Mate Project. Due to circumstances, they ended my contract early, and I was one of the first to be added to the database.”

“Oh, dear God. You were a prostitute?” Kathrine choked out her normally sun-kissed skin paling at the thought.

Arion tipped his head to the side and slowly shook it, “No, I was not a pleasure worker. My role was to breed to a specific female and impregnate her hoping to produce a female. Pleasure workers are sterile because of either medical procedures or by birth. There is only a handful registered in the male conclave as even the lowest female in the Matriarchy has their own consort or Suinima. The pleasure workers are contracted out to high ranking visitors and closely monitored to ensure their safety.”

Bastien covered his face with a hand and rubbed vigorously for a moment before he sighed. “And just why was your contract ended?”

“They accused me of being inferior and unable to breed a female after three years of not impregnating her. There were four of us servicing her monthly and she hadn’t produced. If it wasn’t for the Ariki stepping in and dissolving my contract, they wouldn’t have added me to the database. Elise and I would never have had a chance of a complete soul.”

“But… but you’re only 22…,” Kathrine said with a shocked look on her face.

“Yes. It was one reason they contracted me out to the third daughter. I was untried and had not yet sired a child. The doctors ensured them I was a prime breeder and could complete the contract timely. Since I could not do so, I became eligible for the Soul Mate Project.”

“None of this is relevant, Mom. Arion is my soul bound mate and a part of our family now. No matter where he comes from or his past… employment.”

Several moments passed when Bastien laid his napkin on the table. “You’re right, Elise. He’s our son-in-law, no matter the difference in species and culture. As long as he does right by you it’s all that matters.”

“It is a great honor to be a Suinima. I will not fail in my duties to her and to this household.”

Her parents left to return to their own apartment a few hours later and Elise went to shower. When she came back out Arion was sitting on the couch with the holo-screen remote in his hand trying to get it to work.

“Here like this,” Elise said and showed him how to work it. “I have to go over today’s sales and end of day inventory. We did a brisk business today.”

Two hours later she looked up from her terminal to see Arion in the office running a finger along the childish painting on the urn again.

“I came in to ask if I could set up the sand bathing system in the bathroom.”

She raised her eyebrow, “This is your home now, Arion. You don’t need to ask permission for things like that. If you want to bathe, you can. If you’re hungry, you can get something to eat. If you want to listen to music then use the audio system or watch the holo-screen if you’d rather watch a vid.”

He hummed. “This is still new to me, Viama. I am used to a schedule made up for me by the Tuatahi, the head male of the Matriarch’s household. It keeps the order for the males. We know when we will receive our meals when it will be our turn to clean our bodies for the evening. Being able to do these things when I wish it is not something so simple for me.”

“Would it help if we made up some kind of schedule for you to use at first?”

He thought for a moment then nodded. “I believe it would help me adjust.”

* * *

Elise yawned and stretched before checking the time. Another hour had gone by since Arion had gone to bathe. She straightened her desk and placed the list of items she needed for the morning next to the terminal then left the room.

She didn’t see Arion in the living room nor in the kitchen as she walked by. She shrugged, maybe he was still in the bathroom or had already gone to bed.

Elise turned out all the lights after checking the alarm and security cameras. When she opened the door to the bedroom, she gasped in shock.

A completely nude Arion lay stretched out on the bed with one knee raised. When he heard the door open, he shifted his upper body to lean on both elbows as he looked at her.

“I’m prepared to do my duty to you tonight, Viama. My body has been thoroughly cleaned and I’ve smoothed my scales. As your Suinima I will strive to bring you the greatest pleasure as we mate,” he growled out and stroked a hand down his abdomen and across a small protuberance on his groin.

Elise could only stare at him with an open mouth as he continued to run his hand over his thigh, across his stomach, and up to his chest. She noticed each time his hand would caress along his abdomen where a human’s belly button would be he would stop and stroke a patch of blue scales.

“Come to bed, Viama. Let me pleasure you all night.”

Elise finally snapped out of it and shook her head, “You need to slow down. Seriously, Arion. I know we’re soul mates, and I know having sex with a strange female is par for the course for you, but it’s not for me.”

His brow plates turned down into a frown. “What do you mean, Viama? Do you not wish to mate with me? Have I offended you? Are you not pleased with my body?”

Elise waved her hands around. “It’s nothing like that, Arion. I want to get to know you better first. We’ve only known each other for two days.”

“We are soul mates, Viama. Our mating will be perfect, our bodies made for each other. Are you worried you won’t receive pleasure from me since I am a drell and not human?”

“I’m just not comfortable having sex with you right now,” Elise said and flipped off the lights.

Elise removed her slippers and yanked on the covers until Arion moved then slid under them.

“Good night, Arion.”

Arion was quiet for a moment before adjusting the covers over himself then whispered “good night.” The tones coming from him would have registered his confusion if Elise could hear them.


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

After breakfast the next morning Elise offered to show him around the neighborhood. He agreed, and they stopped in the store long enough to let her parents know where they were going.

Elise showed him the bakery the same family-owned for several hundred years and made the best baguettes. Then she showed him the park which had survived many devastating storms and the residents paid to have repaired each time. She took him past a building with a sign proclaiming it to be a Voodoo shop and museum. He looked in the window at all the small beaded necklaces, statues, candles, and burning incense. He pointed at the strange carved masks hanging on the wall and rows of brightly colored bottles.

Elise tugged his arm, and they continued to walk until they came to an even busier area. The smell of coffee and a warm, sweet, yeasty smell came to him as she pulled him toward a cafe.

Elise laughed when she saw powdered sugar coating Arion’s mouth while he happily chewed on his beignet. She leaned over and wiped the substance away while he grinned.

Their day was not without incidents with both the locals and tourists. For some reason many thought it was fine to come up and intrude on them. Several reached out to see if the scales were real or if it was some intricate makeup or a mask for a local vid shoot or show. Elise had to be quick in order to step between Arion and the stranger and explain the cultural taboo against touching one of the drell species.

After the fourth time Elise grew impatient and instead of telling them about the taboo she told the woman to stop being rude and go away. After that, she grabbed Arion’s hand and went to the resident’s skycar kiosk. They were quiet on the 30-minute ride home.

* * *

Arion sat in one of the patio chairs while Elise worked inside the greenhouse. She headed there almost as soon as they entered the apartment.

Arion blinked and turned toward the apartment’s door when he heard it opening. Kathrine walked through carrying a tray with ice-filled glasses and a large pitcher of a pink-colored beverage. Arion placed the datapad he had been reading from on the table and stood. He hurried down the few steps and took the tray from her.

“Thank you, dear. I see she’s still in there,” Kathrine said as she picked up the pitcher and poured them each a drink.

Arion glanced up at the greenhouse door before sitting back on his chair, “Yes. She didn’t say much once we returned home, only mumbled she’d be out later.”

Kathrine took a small sip of the pink drink and set her glass on the table. “She does that when she becomes anxious or stressed. Flowers and plants are her solaces, they have been since she was a child. Working with them calms and centers her, it allows her to relax. What’s really odd is the plants seem to respond to her. They grow lush and healthy as she cares for them. The blooms more radiant and their scents stronger and more pleasant. It was the same way with her grandmother, and probably her great grandmother as well. When she feels more like her usual self she’ll come out, probably carrying a large bouquet to set on the dining room table or place in the store’s display window.”

Arion’s chest and throat vibrated and a buzzing noise sounded. “I feel as if I am failing in my duty to her. I am her Suinima, her husband, yet I can offer her no comfort when she locks herself away.”

Kathrine sat back in her chair and crossed her legs, “You’re not failing her. She won’t view it that way either. The best advice I can give you is to be honest and faithful to her. Never betray her. Try to be there for her when she needs it, but also realize that she is used to being alone, of going into her greenhouse when she needs to. That will never change as it is too ingrained in her; a vital part of who she is.”

Arion’s orange pupils focused on Kathrine. “Male drell do not betray their females. They raise us to respect, care for, and obey our Toku Kuia and all drell females. Those of us lucky enough to be chosen as husbands know it is a great honor to be so. That I am also her Soul Mate is an honor which cannot be matched.”

Kathrine stared at the orange and blue drell. “I don’t mean any disrespect to you, Arion. Your culture is new to me; to all of us. Elise is my only child, and she means the world to us. She carries a heavy family burden on her shoulders and it has, more than once, almost become too much for her. I needed to make sure you understood just how much she will depend on you, on your integrity. The whole family is and Elise’s future is as well.”

Kathrine stood and gathered up the empty glasses and half-filled pitcher. Arion watched her with a frown on his face, trying to understand what she was getting at. Before he could voice his question, Kathrine walked down the stairs and into the apartment.

* * *

Elise placed the purchase orders to the chemist, packaging supply company, ordered more pre-printed cards, and searched for a more reliable source of floral wire and acid-free paper before sighing wearily and getting up to go to bed.

She opened the air-tight lid of the ceramic jar and peered inside. She’d have to refill it in the morning and ask Arion to make a few hundred packets of the preserving mix. He had become rather adept at measuring each exact spoonful over the last week and she’d be relying on him to help her in the store even more since her parents were heading back to Thessia to finish their vacation.

She slid her palm over the light panel before closing the door and rubbing at her eyes. She dreaded once again opening her bedroom door to see Arion laid out on the bed like some pagan offering to her as she had every night since they arrived on Earth.

Not that she minded, he was incredibly attractive, and they were married, but after having her trust and sexual ego so crushed by a man before she didn’t know if she could handle having the same thing happen again. This time by an alien who was not only her soul mate and husband, but had been trained to please a female. What if he compared her to the females of his own species and found her lacking? What if her physical differences had a detrimental effect on him? She knew nothing about a male drell’s anatomy. When he offered to pleasure her, was he even excited? Did he even want to make love to her? Or was it only out of duty that he offered?

She paused outside the bedroom door, then tapped the console and pushed the door open. She came to a halt when instead of posed on the bed, Arion lay under the covers on his side of the bed and only slightly stirred when she walked in. She turned off the lights as she settled into the bed.

“Good night, Arion.”

A few seconds passed and Arion finally answered with, “Good night, Elise.”

* * *

The first week after her parents left to go back on vacation passed with more than a few people just coming into the store to gawk at Arion. Elise let them know if they weren’t there to buy or enquire about the merchandise they would need to leave. Arion took to spending most of his time in the back room making more packets or straightening up the area even if it didn’t need it.

When he heard Elise loudly telling someone to leave the store, he walked out to see what the commotion was about.

Elise had a furious look on her face as the woman she stood in front of held a datapad in her hands and a small mech with a light floated beside her.

“Ah, so there’s the alien is now. Diana Finch with New Orleans Now, so what do you think of being the soul mate to Elise LaRue, the woman who was scorned by a competitor’s spy who said, and I quote, ‘not only is Elise ugly and dim-witted but she’s the worst lay I’ve ever had’? According to the Soul Mate Project’s public records, their agreement with the drell species states a soul mate has to reimburse the male’s previous owner. So you bought this alien? Is he your slave in more ways than just sexually? How much did he cost?”

“I’ve notified the police. I’ve asked you to leave my store repeatedly, and no one will answer you. Now get out,” Elise growled at the woman.

Arion said nothing as Elise had said not to answer the woman, but his curiosity rose as the woman shouted more questions as the police arrived and told her she needed to leave the premises. The woman stood across the street for the next thirty minutes shouting questions at anyone entering the store.

Elise locked the door as the last remaining customer walked out. It was three hours early, but she had enough. She put the closed sign on and turned off the lights. Arion followed her through the back of the store and up the inside stairwell to their apartment.

“Elise? What was that woman talking about? Who was she?” Arion asked.

“A nosy reporter who made my life hell for several weeks a few years ago,” Elise muttered as she threw on her work clothes and started for the door to the roof.

“But what...”

He didn’t get to finish the sentence before the greenhouse door shut behind her, cutting him off.

Elise finally got her temper under control as she finished repotting one of the bright yellow tulip bulbs. She looked at the time on her omni tool and saw it was well past dinner. She’d been in the greenhouse for almost six hours.

Elise softly closed the apartment door and set the alarm before going to shower. She passed by the dining room and saw Arion sitting in his usual chair. He had set the table for their meal. His elbows were on the table and his forehead rested against his laced fingers.

“I wasn’t sure if you would finish your work in the greenhouse or not before it was time to sleep. Since I cannot cook, I placed last night’s leftover food in the warmer for us, just in case.”

Elise curled her fingers into loose fists. “I’m sorry, Arion. I completely lost track of time. Let me shower then we can have dinner, all right?”

“As you wish, Elise,” he murmured.

Elise leaned her head on the wall of the shower and sighed. She felt bad for what she did. She realized she had some explaining to do and shut off the water.

When she entered the dining room, Arion rose from his chair. She shook her head, “I’ll get it, Arion. It’s the least I can do after making you wait all night.”

Neither one said much. The food they ate sat like rocks in their stomachs. Elise stood and gathered up their half-eaten dinner then placed the dishes in the dishwasher before returning to where Arion still sat.

“It’s been a long, stressful day for both of us. Let’s try to get some sleep. The store is closed tomorrow. I’ll explain everything then. I’m just too tired to do it tonight.”


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

They didn’t sleep well and dawn hadn’t even lightened the sky when they both rose from the bed looking more tired than they had the previous night.

Not even a hot shower made Elise feel any better. She began making omelets for them as Arion got ready for the day. She slid their plates on the table and added a small saucer of sliced fresh fruit before pouring juice for him and strong black coffee for herself.

They picked at their breakfast and Elise said in a soft voice which Arion had to strain to hear clearly, “About four years ago or so I hired an assistant for the shop. Someone I thought I could trust to run it while I stayed in the greenhouse and worked with the plants. His name was Jean-Paul, and I thought he was perfect for the job. He was handsome, personable, quick to pick up on the shop’s workings, and my customers seemed to love him. Sales were steady. Everything seemed to work flawlessly.

“Then I noticed we kept running short on packets of supplement compared to sales of fresh-cut flowers. When I asked about it he told me he had dropped several packets and hadn’t noticed it until he went to clean up that night. He didn’t want to put the items back on the shelf so just threw them out and must have forgotten to write it down. The second time it happened he said he noticed several packets were partially opened, and the contents had spilled out. He had written it down for me, but I must not have seen it. At that time, I was the one making the packets. I didn’t recall the machine ever malfunctioning and not sealing the foil properly. I had a service tech come out the next morning and he told me nothing was wrong with the machine, but maybe the foil I used was defective, so I changed suppliers.

“Jean-Paul continued to be charming, and eventually we began a relationship. I thought he was the one for me. I wasn’t holding out hope they would find my soul mate. No one I knew had found theirs, so I doubted mine would appear.

“I thought everything was going perfect and any day Jean-Paul would ask me to marry him. He had moved in, had access to everything but the greenhouse, my office, and business terminal. It lasted for about three months. On one of the days the shop was closed, I came down from the greenhouse earlier than usual. I heard noises of things being slammed down and of him cursing. I saw him in my office. He hacked the door lock and was rifling through my papers. My terminal lay broken on the floor. I called the police, and they arrived within minutes to arrest him. One of them found plastic bags full of powders in his suitcase. I looked at them, then ran to the workshop. He had dumped the chemicals from the jars I had in there.

“The following weeks were a nightmare. The trial showed me how wrong I had been about him. He never cared for me, he didn’t even like me. He was here to get my family recipe for a large corporation that had tried to buy it from me when I first inherited the business. He even lied about his name.

“Our relationship was a sham. During the trial, he had to get in one last parting shot at me by telling everyone how he had to medicate himself just to bed me. The reporters printed every detail. Word for word. For weeks after that people with nothing better to do stood outside my shop and made horrible comments to me when I stepped outside to sweep or to even go to the store for groceries. The reporter who was here and asked you those questions was the absolute worst. Where the other reporters printed it maybe two or three times, she would repeat the same thing in her news article about it every day. She did it for three weeks straight.

“Between the reporter standing outside shouting questions and the people making comments to the customers, and her continued daily printing of those details, my sales dropped to next to nothing. Only my regular customers who have come here for years continued to shop. Finally, the idiots trickled off. They either found someone else to hound, or they just got bored and didn’t bother to show up anymore. Business picked up again as people forgot about the whole mess.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we opened this morning’s paper and found the reporter had rehashed the old story just to cause problems again.”

Arion sat quietly for several minutes as he processed everything she told him. “So the reason you refuse to consummate our binding is that you pine for your old lover? He was, to you, the perfect mate?”

She snorted and choked slightly on the coffee she just drank. “Hell no.”

His brow plates drew down into a frown, “I do not understand why you refuse to mate with me. Is it because I’m not a human? Is it because you find me unattractive compared to this Jean-Paul? I am your soul mate, your Suinima, and it’s my duty and privilege to bring you pleasure and take care of your needs.”

Elise propped her elbows on the table and rubbed her face in her palms. “That’s exactly why, Arion. It’s your duty to do it. Same as Jean-Paul was following his boss’s orders to do whatever he could to get my recipe. I don’t want that. I want someone to be with me because they want too. Not because they have too.”

She stood up to clear the table. “I have no idea if you actually want to make love to me, or if you’re just willing to do it out of duty, or if you’re just so used to mating with a female you’re contracted to that you view it in the same light. The binding is just another contract and you’re obligated to perform your “duty” to it.”

Arion stood up and moved to where she washed the dishes. “To our people duty is very important. The males have specific roles they perform. A breeder chosen for high-level contracts is proud of the duty given to him. It is an honor for him to be chosen to sire children to someone of royal standing.

“I do not view our binding in the same way as I did my contract. This is not a contract. We were blessed to find the one person meant for us. Our people are new to the Project, yet even we have heard of the miracle of becoming a whole person. Of finding the spark within another and sharing them to complete us. As a male and drell, all of us knew we would never find such a person. Never know what it felt like to be with someone we were meant for. All we knew was what it was like to service a female and hope our seed took so we could have our contracts marked as fulfilled and return home. That was a duty, and one the males performed time after time. We knew the satisfaction of performing the role we play in our society, but only those very few males chosen gifted with a Covenant knew the pleasure and honor of being mate to only one female. Of a female seeing something within him which made him special, made him worth more than just mating for procreation. A Suinima’s duty to them was to take care of their needs, be there for them in whatever capacity they wanted us for. Whether for sexual release, to talk, to hold them during times of sadness or if they just wanted a night of companionship.”

He took the glass from her hand and placed it on the counter. “The binding is like that. The gods saw something within us and matched us. They gave us an honor not everyone will know. I would be a fool to not want to be with you; to lie in bed and become one with you. If all I wanted was just to continue to look at it as a contract, I wouldn’t have offered myself as I did. I would have done what they trained me to do. Wait until the contract holder summoned me to her bed, service her until my body responded, then followed her directions on what pleased her. Once she finished, I would be told to release my seed. As soon as I could, I would leave the bed and return to my bunk in the male’s dorm.

“That is not what I want, Viama. I want to be with you. I want to know what it is like to sink deep inside you and become one with you. I want to know what it feels like when my Viama finds her peak of pleasure and know it was me who brought you there. I want to know and feel what the males who were given the ability to bond chemically with their wives or owners felt the first time they released the jalei and became one with them. I want to know what it feels like to become whole. I want to know someone thought I was special enough to make them whole. I need to know and hear I’m not a worthless male.”

Elise looked up into his eyes. His orange and blue flecked pupils stared down at her. She heard the change in his tones as he spoke. She hadn’t known if they meant he was telling the truth or covering up a lie until the moment she saw the moisture in his eyes, combined with the way he spoke let her know he meant every word.

She closed her eyes. “I believe you, Arion. It’s just… what he said crushed something inside of me. It made me doubt myself, doubt anyone would want to be with me. Doubt I would make them happy. I can’t take that kind of rejection again,” Elise said as she turned back toward the sink and scrubbed furiously at a piece of stuck food in a pan.

“I would never reject you, Elise. It is ingrained in us since birth to respect and honor females. Every male dreams of having a Covenant with a female. We have something more. Something even better than that. Give us a chance.”

Elise sighed. “I’m just not ready yet, Arion. This whole mess with the reporter just brought back bad memories and old hurts I thought I buried pretty deep. I guess I was wrong.”


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

It was mid-afternoon when Elise went down to the shop to pick up the daily mail and newspapers. Having a hard copy of the news was a throwback from living with her grandmother during the spring and summer. She had always enjoyed watching her grandfather unfolding the issue and snapping it open before folding it into different sections to read.

Arion began making the projected weeks worth of packets while she cleaned and made an inventory list. He looked up when he heard her sigh as she entered the storeroom.

“What is wrong, Elise?”

She handed him the copy of the New Orleans Now issue. The headline read, “Local Rebuffed Florist Buys Sex Slave.”

Arion read the accompanying article with a frown on his face. “Viama, this is not accurate. We did not say these things. I am not a slave, whether for sex or anything else.”

“Welcome to Earth’s sensational journalism. Where the truth doesn’t matter. Only what sells copies, no matter how outrageous and inaccurate.”

Elise picked up the finished packets and took them out to the storefront. She heard someone knocking on the door and looked up to see a person peering through the window. She frowned as she spotted the small, hovering camera near them. She rolled her eyes, placed the last of the packets into the drawer, and locked it for the night, then went back into the storeroom.

“There’s at least one reporter out front. We will use the lift to go up to the roof instead of using the other door.”

Arion glanced over at Elise as he put away the unused foil. “Are you going to be working in your greenhouse?”

Elise paused. “Actually, yes.” She saw him blink and slowly nod his head as his full lips turned down slightly. She placed a hand on his forearm and took a deep breath. “Would you like to see the inside? I can’t let you into the section where I keep my cultivars, but you can come inside.”

Arion gazed at her for a moment before he smiled and nodded. “I would like to see it.”

He followed her to the roof and waited as she checked the readout on the greenhouse, then input her code into the touch-pad.

Arion took a deep breath when he entered the enormous greenhouse. The varied scents hit him in a rush. His mind began to separate the scents and assign them to the various flowers he knew.

He felt a tug on his hand and looked down at a smiling Elise. “Come on, let me show you where I grow everything.”

He stood outside the section where Elise kept her prize blue roses. When he asked why they didn’t sell them in the store, she told him the ones in the room were the only ones on Earth; other than a single sample sent to register the plant with a society of horticulturists which had been around since 1804. She told him she was still waiting to hear from the Plant Breeders Association with her patent on the bloom and cultivar. Until then, the plants weren’t for sale.

She carried one of the blooming plants over near the glass enclosure and he smiled. His hand touched the glass where the blue and purple blossom almost touched. “It is exquisite, Elise.”

She blushed and carried the plant back to the table. They spent another 30 minutes choosing blooms to make a new arrangement for their dining room before going back downstairs.

It was shortly after dinner when her parents called and her mother screeched she would sue the reporter.

“She’ll say the same thing she did before, Journalistic License and Freedom of Speech. If she keeps it up, I’ll send a message to the local Soul Mate Project facility and see what they can do. Until then, we’re ignoring it all.”

Her mother harrumphed. “Well, how’s Arion handling it? I mean, that witch had the audacity to call him a slave.”

“He didn’t understand at first. He’s probably thinking all humans are weird. Constantly invading his personal space, asking idiotic questions, staring at him as if he was a zoo exhibit, and now this.”

Her mother hummed, “And you? How are doing?”

“I’ve been better. I told her to get out and called the cops, but she just stood across the street making a spectacle of herself.”

“Did you want us to come home?”

Elise chuckled, “No. Enjoy your trip. She’s not worth missing the Nos Astra Edible Gardens tour. Bring me back some samples. I’m thinking of expanding our selection to include a variety of easy to grow herbs from Earth and might as well try including ones from there too.”

“What a delightful idea, Elise. Another is finding out what flowers grow on Arion’s home planet and incorporate them into the business.”

Elise hummed, “Now that you mention it, Arion told me only one dome grows flowers, and I think only one variety at that. It’s used in their bath care items and prized as a reward for the males.”

“That sounds like a fairly simple thing to add to the offerings. Plus, I think after everything that’s happened lately it would be a pleasant thing for him. I’m sure he’s missing his people. The flower may make him feel at home here.”

Elise nodded. “You’re probably right, Mom. I’ll send a message to a local counselor and see if she can’t put me into contact with someone on Kahje.”

* * *

Elise sighed as she looked out the front window of the store and saw a small group of people across the street from the florist shop and among them was the reporter apparently “interviewing” some of them.

Arion joined her at the window and shook his head. “I simply do not understand what is happening and why humans do such strange things.”

Elise snorted, “You’re not the only one, Arion. I’m human and I don’t even understand it. I’m getting ready to open for the day, is everything stocked?”

Arion nodded as he continued to look out the window. “Yes. The door to the storeroom is also locked as you requested and I’ve filled the supplement packets.”

“Thanks, Arion.”

Arion turned from the window and smiled at her, “It is my pleasure and duty to help you, Viama.”

Elise took a deep breath and input the security key code to unlock the front door and flipped the switch to “Open”. She only hoped today wouldn’t cause her to want to go to the greenhouse, she didn’t have much left to do after spending all yesterday there with Arion.

By lunchtime Elise was ready to tear her hair out. Only one genuine customer came in that day. All the others were gawkers or troublemakers. It took the police showing up again to get them out of the store and when Elise took stock of her store inventory; she saw many minor items ranging from glass dishes to pots for violets and small ornaments meant to sit in the flower pots as decorations had been stolen. She locked the door and flipped the switch again.

After explaining what happened to Arion, she notified the police and both she and Arion recounted what had gone missing. The officer stood with his mouth open as Arion gave him complete descriptions of every item, where it sat, and full descriptions of who was in the store throughout the day.

“Drell have eidetic memories,” Elise said. “My soul mate works here in the store with me and pretty much sees everything. He’s like a living security camera.”

The officer shook his head and continued recording Arion’s recounting of the day and the people in the store. After the officer left, Elise and Arion went upstairs to their apartment where Elise sent a request to speak to one of the local Soul Mate counselors.

“Thank you for notifying us of the issue you and your soul mate are having at the moment. I’ve placed a note in your file and will forward it to the legal department to see if there is any recourse you can take against the reporter and publication. If the situation doesn’t resolve itself in the next few days or worsens contact me again and I’ll send one of the Enforcement officers there to assess the situation. Was there anything else I can do for you today?”

“Actually, there is. Arion told me of a plant that is only available on Kahje and I’d like to get into contact with the proprietor of the farm where it’s grown.”

The counselor rapidly typed something into her terminal and nodded. “I have the information here. I’ll send them a message with your contact information in it.”

“Thanks, I’m sure Arion will love having his native flower for sale here as well.”

The counselor smiled at her and wished her a pleasant day before disconnecting the call.

Elise found Arion standing in the kitchen with several cabinets and the cooler door open. “Checking to see if there was something you missed before?”

He closed the door and looked at her. “No, I am a bit hungry but couldn’t decide what I would like to eat.”

Elise glanced at the time, then tapped her finger on the counter. A slow grin spread across her face as she watched him pick up a can, read it, then put it back.

“I’ve got an idea. If you can wait for about two, maybe three hours, I’ll take you someplace special. But we’ve got to go shopping first because you’re not dressed for it.”

Arion glanced down at his dark blue and black leathers, “Viama, these are brand new. Same as the others.”

“I know. That’s why you need something else. Trust me. You don’t want to be wearing leathers or new clothes where I’m taking you.”

Arion’s thick brow ridges drew down as he closed the cabinet door. “All right.”

* * *

After ignoring the catcalls and people being rude jerks from across the street, they entered the under-platform garage and headed for her skycar to go shopping at the second-hand stores.

Arion stared at himself in the full-length mirror and frowned. “Viama? Are you sure this is appropriate to wear for going out to a restaurant?” The brightly colored red, orange, and yellow floral shirt he wore was a blaring contrast to his normal staid dark blue or black leathers.

“It’s perfect. Hold still while I try to find some dark pants in your size.”

Arion stayed inside the fitting room for several minutes until a pair of dark-colored human pants, Elise referred to as jeans, were flung over the doorway. “Try those on.”

Elise heard a rustle of clothing and a warble from Arion. “Elise? I do not understand these closures.”

She rubbed the back of her neck and glanced around before hissing at him to unlock the door and she slipped inside; to see Arion standing there with the shirt unbuttoned and no pants on. Which included no underwear.

Arion held up the jeans and turned them to show her where they were still zipped up and buttoned. Elise hissed at him, “Arion, I told you to wear underwear.”

“I am sorry, Elise, but they make my leathers very uncomfortable. Drell do not wear such garments, so they do not make our clothing to accommodate another layer between our scales and the leather.”

Elise snorted. She knew they tailored the leathers to be an exact fit to their bodies to keep from damaging their scales. She just didn’t want to keep remembering he went commando in public. She reached for the pants and showed him how the closures worked, then buttoned up his shirt while he struggled to get the jeans on at the same time. She stopped briefly when he stood to button the pants and she saw the blue patch of skin and scales on his stomach. His soul mark stood out from his orange coloring in perfect clarity. Smaller than her own, but unmistakably a match.

He paused as she touched the mark gently, “I always wondered who had the other one, if they were alive and living on Kahje. I laid in my bunk and wondered if they ever thought the same thing and wondered about me or even cared that I existed. The Matriarchy didn’t keep a record of the marks. All they recorded were our genetics, owner registration or if they classified us as non-bound, the day of our births and deaths, and if we produced female children. That’s not to say we weren’t taken care of. The laws against harming a male are strict and we have many rights which weren’t allowed to the females when we were a Patriarchal society.” He shivered as her thumb stroked over the small image which now reminded him of a violet she grew in her greenhouse.

She finished buttoning his shirt. “I thought of my soul mate, but with my parents never finding theirs nor anyone I knew personally getting their notices I didn’t hold any hope of them showing up with my packet. Then boom, when I least expected, they showed up and here we are.”

“Yes. Here we are. I pray to Arashu every night before I sleep and ask for her blessing for us and to bless the Ariki for joining the Soul Mate Project.”

Elise gently touched the side of Arion’s face and he closed his eyes and leaned into her palm. Her thumb stroked along the stiff frill ridge above his ribbing, which elicited a soft whistling sound from him before she took her hand away.

“Come on. Get changed back into your leathers so we can pay for these. Once we get home and put them through a quick cleaning cycle, we can go eat. It will be an experience most people wouldn’t have; even if they live here.”

Arion slid his leather vest on and fastened it closed. “What do you mean, Viama?”

“The place I’m taking you to isn’t on a tourist list, isn’t on the extranet, and isn’t talked about outside of the local people. This will be something few will have memories of. So I want you to enjoy it. My family has been going there since my grandfather was a little boy. Family operated for generations and hasn’t changed a bit in all those years.”

“This place is special to you?”

Elise nodded and waited until Arion finished twitching his leather coat into place and picked up the clothing from the bench before unlocking the door to the fitting room.

The door opened to a small group of people standing outside. One of which was the reporter whose camera just snapped several holos of them coming out of the fitting room together.

“A quick question. Did you feel the slave could not perform a simple change of clothing on its own? Why do you feel it’s necessary to clothe your sex slave in second-hand clothing? Why bother with clothing it at all?”

Elise and Arion ignored the woman and pushed their way through the small crowd to the counter where Elise quickly paid for the outfit. The person behind the counter frowned as the reporter kept shouting questions and taking holos.

“This is a privately run business, ma’am. I didn’t give you permission for holos of the store, nor of me. You’re interfering in the running of this shop and I will have to ask you to leave since none of you are even here to purchase anything. You’re loitering and it’s against store policy and the law.” The woman opened her omni tool and connected to the local police department. As she was voicing her complaint, Arion and Elise left and were followed by several of the people who continued to shout disparaging comments and laughing.

When they arrived back at the store a different reporter stood outside and they used the shop entrance instead of the side entrance, as they normally would. Elise mumbled it was to protect their ID entry codes.

“Elise? We are not going to this special place for dinner, are we?” Arion whispered as they took the lift to the roof.

Elise let out a breath and glanced up at him. She quickly decided. “Yes, we are going. And gods help the idiots if they think they will follow us and spoil our dinner.”

Arion looked over as she tapped something on her omni tool he couldn’t see.


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

After dressing in the freshly cleaned clothes, Arion joined Elise in the living room. His brow ridges rose when he saw her wearing ragged jeans and a cotton shirt with several old stains and a pair of heavy, lace-up boots. Arion sat on the couch and put a matching pair of brand new boots on his feet and wiggled his toes a bit in the strange footwear before Elise showed him how to tie the laces.

“Where are we going, Elise? Should we really be going out dressed as we are?”

Elise snorted. “Trust me, Arion. We’ll fit right in. You must pay attention to any directions given to you and follow them exactly until we reach the place. Otherwise, you can end up in some deep water and we might not be able to get you out in time.”

Arion’s brow ridges furrowed as he frowned, _What did she mean?_

He watched curiously as she opened a small safe in her office. She took an envelope out, removed several pieces of paper from inside, and carefully folded them before stuffing them in her pocket. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“Paper credits. Where we’re going, they don’t use automatic transfers for paying the bill. Are you ready to go?”

He nodded and followed her from the apartment and down the set of stairs to the side entrance.

Elise sighed as she caught sight of the same reporter from the store lurking with her cronies or followers or whoever the hell they were outside the flower shop. She grabbed Arion’s hand, and they raced across the street and down the stairs to the under-platform parking deck.

Elise smirked as they slid into her green skycar and saw the reporter stuck outside the residential gate at the top of the platform. “It’ll take twenty minutes to get to where we will park, then another twenty afterward to get to the place we’ll eat at.”

Arion glanced over at her as the skycar backed out of the space and headed for the exit.

Elise glanced in the rearview camera and saw a white van following them with the newspaper logo on the side. She snorted and tapped a button on the console.

“Cher?” A man’s voice came from the speakers and Arion looked over at Elise with a questioning look as she said something to the man his translator couldn’t understand.

A deep chuckle sounded from the speakers before the man responded, and Elise hung up the call.

Elise kept glancing into the camera view to see if the van broke off as they exited from the city skyway and descended toward the lower platforms and finally out to hover several feet above the old roads leading deeper into the Louisiana bayou.

Arion diverted his attention to looking out the windows and pointing at the various billboards and landscaping as they flew past.

A quick glance into the camera showed the van hanging back but still following them. Elise told Arion to make sure his seat belt was on and when he said it was she flipped the auto-drive switch to off and took control of the vehicle. The car sped up until it was flying so fast the billboards were nothing but a blur.

“Hang on,” Elise muttered and barely slowed as she took a right turn and drifted into the other lane before bringing the car back into their own and flying along a rutted, overgrown road with enormous trees on either side. She slowed down several minutes later as she took another turn off onto what amounted to a dirt road.

The sun started to set as she approached a fenced-off area. A rickety metal gate slid to the side; she pulled through it and parked near a ramshackle building with strings of lights hanging from trees and along a sagging porch.

When they got out of the vehicle, the gate closed and a flash of headlights bounced off the metal.

“Surprised they could keep up,” she said and laughed when she heard a woman shouting from the other side trying to get them to open the gate. She took Arion’s hand and pulled him behind her just seconds before several gigantic dogs ran past them snarling and barking at the person rattling the gate while demanding entrance. A scream echoed from the other side of the gate, followed by a loud bang of the van door slamming shut.

“Cher!” The same man Arion heard over the car speakers yelled. Elise grinned and waved as someone stepped off the porch. A loud, piercing whistle sounded and the dogs immediately stopped barking and returned to the house, not even paying a bit of attention to the two standing near the car.

Arion tried not to growl as a giant of a human man wearing a dirty hat on his head and an equally stained and faded shirt and ripped pants picked Elise up and kissed both her cheeks before turning in a circle while laughing. The man put her back down and talked in the same strange language from before, and Elise held up a finger.

“Earth common, Rémi, so my soul mate’s translator works.”

“Cher, you’re no fun,” he said before looking over at the male and blinking. “Holy shit, Elise.”

Elise laughed. “Rémi LaFontaine met Arion LaRue. Arion, this is a friend of mine. We grew up together.”

“Damn man. If you were green you’d look like one of my gators.”

Rémi grunted when Elise punched him, “Hey, that’s not nice.”

Rémi grunted again and rubbed his arm. “Cher, punching me wasn’t nice. This is really your soul mate?”

“I am.”

Rémi’s head tilted to the side, “Cher, he will turn heads at dinner. Mama Cleo is waiting for us, you ready?”

Elise nodded. “Arion, Rémi will take us in his boat to Mama Cleo’s. You must wear hearing protection and stay seated at all times and buckled in. Do not lean over the side of the boat and whatever you do stay out of the water.”

Arion rubbed his scaled head, then nodded, still not understanding why, but decided not to ask questions.

Rémi whistled again and when the dogs came out of the house, he said a few words, and the dogs jumped off the porch and walked the area in front of the gate barking once in a while as they spotted something or someone moving around on the other side.

They followed Rémi around to the back of the ramshackle building and Elise pointed to a boat tied to a small pier. “It’s called an airboat. They are one of the best and fastest ways to travel through the bayou. You never walk, and you don’t get out of the boat unless it’s at a pier. You don’t ever… ever get into the water. The environmental protection act restricts the use of skycars or any vehicle other than flat-bottomed boats in the swamp, except on designated residential roads.”

“I do not understand, Viama.”

“Oh Cher, you should have explained about the natural residents of the bayou before bringing him here,” Rémi said as he handed her two pair of earmuffs.

“The creatures who call the swamp home are dangerous. The people who live here know the ways of the bayou and have grown up around them. Just listen to what we say, Arion. You’ll see why in just a bit.”

“Bring him back during the day, Elise. We will give him a tour,” Rémi said, then helped Elise into the airboat. “Sit in the seat next to Elise and buckle the belt. Keep your feet braced on the bottom of the boat. Whatever you do, don’t lean toward the side or try to stand while the boat is moving.”

Arion nodded, then copied Elise as she put the earmuffs on.

“Make sure they cover your ears... err, whatever you’ve got which lets you hear. Once you’re seated and ready, I’ll get us started. We’ll be at Mama Cleo’s house soon.”

Once Elise was sure the ear protection was in place, she held her thumb up and Rémi started the boat.

Arion gripped the handle on his seat tightly. Elise reached over and took his other hand in hers and squeezed. He looked over at her and she smiled.

Rémi grinned as he noticed Arion relax as Elise pointed out several spots along the river. A few minutes later he cut the engine and they drifted along a stretch of the bayou with immense cypress trees on either side with long flowing shawls of moss hanging from them moving gently in the light breeze of the cooling evening air.

“We’re almost there. This here be old man’s Vux’s hunting grounds.”

Arion glanced back at Rémi, “And who is Vux?”

Rémi’s lips twitched slightly as he leaned down a bit. “Vux is a demon gator. Easily thirty feet long and weighing almost twenty-five hundred pounds. He’s as old as this here swamp and guards it against intruders. It’s said if someone comes into the swamp intending to do harm; old man Vux follows them in the shadows and waits for them to take one step too close to the water. He waits and waits, never once making a sound. The entire swamp goes quiet. No frogs croaking, no snakes slither through the tall grass or on the water. The insects stop and even the air stills and becomes oppressive.”

Arion was too engrossed in what Rémi was telling him to notice Elise cover her eyes with her hand and slowly shake her head back and forth.

“When the intruder takes that last step; Vux reacts. All they see is a mouth full of three-inch-long teeth shooting up out of the water before powerful jaws clamp around them and drag them under the water to old man Vux’s tunnels where he stashes their bodies never to be seen again.”

Arion blinked, then whipped around when a loud plop sound came from next to the boat.

“Rémi, I swear to God I will beat the hell out of you one of these days. That damn legend keeps growing each time you or one of the others tells it to unsuspecting tourists. Knock it off.”

Arion turned back around when Rémi started laughing. “Ah, Cher, you spoil all the fun.”

“You were lying?”

Rémi shook his head, “No, my friend. Not lying, but telling a legend. People disappear in this swamp all the time and we come up with legends to get them to be more cautious and entertain. See, the swamp is home to many endangered species of reptiles, birds, and plants. Hundreds of years ago humans were destroying the wetlands, through plain stupidity, greed, or carelessness. They’d come into the swamp and kill the gators or release unwanted animals or plant species which would upset the balance here. Native flora and fauna would have to compete with the invasive species and it wouldn’t always win.

“Or idiots would come in here thinking they were tough shit, and we’d warn them to stay out of the water, to keep to the boats. We’d have warning signs all along the entryways, on the piers, and the tourist area. And inevitably some dumbass wouldn’t listen and jump into the water thinking no gators were around. Only to be snapped up by one partially submerged in the water waiting for the boat to go by so it could go back to hunting for fish and birds. They are what we call opportunistic eaters, if a meal comes to them they’ll take it. We lost more gators to those idiots than what we should have. Their yahoo friends would kill them instead of waiting for the fish and game officials to get here.

“It got so bad we almost lost everything; the fish, the animals, our way of life here. It has taken nearly a hundred years to get the swamp back to this condition, and it’s nowhere near as it should be. Harsher laws against poaching, stricter fines for people being caught littering, or introducing outside species to the swamplands are enforced. Those looking to build here are taxed with a special fee to help repair the area after their homes or whatever are built. The regulations on new buildings are strict, and if not followed to the letter, the builder can lose their permits for constructing in the bayou. Of course, not many people come to live in the swamp. It’s mainly tourist businesses or fish farms for restaurants in the city and none of them come this far in.”

Rémi sat back and moved the large light next to him to point toward the far shore. “Look over there, Arion,” he said and pointed.

Arion turned and looked to where Rémi pointed. All he could see was a huge log floating on the water. Until it moved. A long tail swished to the side, and the _log _darted through the water. He watched as a long, heavy creature walked up onto the shore. An enormous mouth opened slowly and snapped shut quickly just before it settled on the sand.

“Gator.”

Rémi started the boat’s engine again, and they continued down the waterway until a few minutes later he cut it off once more. Elise pointed to a massive structure off to the right with multicolored lights hanging on the trees and wrapped around the wooden railings on the pier.

“Mama Cleo’s place,” she said excitedly. “It’s been too long since I’ve been here.”

Rémi nodded, “That be the truth, Elise. When Mama Cleo said you were coming back for dinner and bringing your soul mate, everyone was happy. The LaRues are missed in the swamp.”

The boat bumped against the dock, and Rémi jumped out to secure it. Arion climbed out and saw many other airboats and other flat-bottomed boats tied up to several piers along the stretch of river.

“Looks like everyone’s here,” Rémi said as he led the way up the lit path toward the buildings. “Stay between the lights, Arion. Don’t step off the path.”

The path twisted and turned around several other brightly lit structures until it came to a rather sizeable building which to Arion looked like someone just built haphazardly on to it in every direction.

“Elise, you guys go on inside. Tell Mama Cleo I’m out checking the gennys. She’s got a full house tonight so have to make sure they stay filled up.”

Elise nodded and took Arion’s hand. “Stay behind me Arion until the main greetings are over and I let them know about the touching taboo. Mama Cleo will want to hug you and we should let her. It’s important and a part of who she is. There’s nothing sexual about it, nor does she want to buy you from me. You will fascinate the kids, so be ready for them to touch your hands or face.”

Arion took a deep breath and after he nodded he was ready, she reached for the door handle and gave it a jiggle.

When the door opened into a brightly lit, and loud room Arion blinked. He hadn’t heard a single sound from outside, but the inside of the building was filled with many people talking, laughing, and the smells of different foods wafted out. The music which was playing ceased as someone called out to let them know Elise arrived.

“Elise!” A woman shouted, and they looked over to see a dark-skinned woman dressed in bright colors with a large headwrap on hurrying over to them. A rapid flow of speech coming from her the entire way. Arion took a few steps back from them as Elise was engulfed in the woman’s arms.

A minute later a crowd had formed in front of the door and Arion took several more steps back on the rickety porch.

Elise raised her hands and made a downward waving motion, and the questions and shouts to her quieted.

“I’m happy to see you all. I know you want to meet my soul mate, but there are a few things you need to know and understand first. Arion is a drell, and their culture differs from ours. The foremost thing is don’t touch him. It’s taboo for them. Especially for women to touch one of their males. Now, Mama Cleo, I know you want to give him a great big hug, so you’ve got the okay to do it. The kids will probably want a closer look at him too, so as long as you only touch his face or hands you’ll be all right. No trying to kiss him, none of you. It’ll upset him and make you ill.”

“Well, let’s see him. No one around here’s ever got themselves a soul mate. And what the hell is a drell?” A man’s shout came from the back of the crowd of people.

“And why can’t we kiss him? What do you mean by ill?” A woman wearing short denim shorts and a cutoff shirt asked.

“Drell secrete a toxin. Without the antidote, you’ll hallucinate and becoming delirious until finally, you get the sweats and cramps. So no kissing, not even a buss on the cheek… frill… thing.”

“Huh?” one of the older men said as he hitched up his pants.

Elise smiled and turned around to see Arion standing on the far side of the porch. “Come on. I told them about the restrictions and they want to meet you. Plus, the smells from Mama Cleo’s kitchen is making me hungry.”

Arion swallowed and took several steps toward her.

The gasps were quite audible in the building when the crowd got their first view of Arion. His eyes rapidly moved over everyone inside the house and blinked causing more gasps until finally the dam burst. Mama Cleo held her arms open and with a blinding smile told him she would hug him now and welcomed him to her house.

Arion tried not to flinch as the woman’s arms came around him. The hug lasted only a brief second as Mama Cleo felt him stiffen. “Welcome to my home, Arion, call me Mama Cleo. This here is one big family and we’re glad you are a part of it now. Come in and let the others get to know you.”

Everyone talked to him at once, and Elise laughed. “Let him inside the house so we can shut the door before all that good cooking draws the gators. Rémi is checking on the generators for you, Mama Cleo. He said he’d be in after making sure they’re good to go.”

Everyone backed up a bit to give them room to enter.

Cleo led Elise and Arion over to one of the many tables. The people stopped by to talk to them and ask questions, then finally wandered off to find a seat at a different table.

The children were the last to leave. Many of them just standing and staring while a few of the braver ones asked to touch him.

After everyone sat down, Rémi joined them at the same table, and Mama Cleo said it was dinnertime. Several people stood and gathered trays filled to the brim with glasses of ice and giant pitchers of tea while others started tapping metal kegs of beer.

Arion leaned toward Elise, “Mama Cleo said this was family? Only each person here looks so different.”

Elise smiled and nodded as she looked over the gathered people. Their skin tones were dark to very fair and all shades in between. Black hair, curly hair, blonde hair, straight hair, white hair, and no hair.

“They all live here in the bayou, in this part of the Parish. They look out for each other, help each other when it’s needed. Just like a family. It’s been this way for generations, Arion. Everyone here may not share a bloodline, but we’re all brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles.”

A teenage girl walked over carrying a loaded tray. “Rémi, here’s your beer. Elise, what do you want?”

“I’ll take tea and Arion will as well. How’s your mama, Cissy?”

“She’s doing a lot better. She wanted to come tonight after Mama Cleo called, but not even two minutes later Doc was calling her and telling her to stay put and not go gallivanting around in the swamp with her hip the way it is.”

“Tell her we hope she feels better. We’ll try to stop by to see her when we can.”

The girl nodded to Elise after placing the glasses on the paper covering the table, then shyly looked at Arion. He smiled tentatively at her and the girl blushed.

“Get on back to your table, Cissy,” Rémi said when the girl hadn’t moved.

Arion looked up when man after man came through a swinging door carrying enormous steaming pots and heading toward the myriad tables in the gigantic room.

Rémi leaned back as did Elise, who gently put her arm on Arion’s chest and pushed him back in his chair and away from the table.

The men smiled at Elise before pouring the contents of the pot into the center of the table. Out came mounds of boiled potatoes, corn, green beans, sausage pieces, carrots, onions, huge artichokes, lemons, oranges, and bright-red steaming crawfish.

Arion leaned back further. “Viama? Those things have eyes.”

Rémi started laughing as did several people from the nearby tables.

“Boy, those are crawfish and the sweetest, most succulent thing you’re ever gonna eat. Mama Cleo and her boys raise them right here and ain’t nobody ever had them outside of this here family,” a man from a neighboring table said.

Arion blinked. “You eat these?”

Rémi snorted. “Yeah. Now hush so Mama Cleo can say Grace and we can start eating while it’s nice and hot.”

Mama Cleo’s voice rang out loud and clear in the room. Arion looked around him as not a single person moved, but sat there with their eyes closed and heads bowed. As soon as she said the last word the noise level immediately came to a dull roar as everyone reached for something from the mound of food in front of them and started talking.

“Dig in, Arion. Don’t be shy,” Mama Cleo said as she sat down next to him.

Arion glanced around the room and watched Elise grab a potato, an ear of corn, and one of those crawfish creatures.

“Here, like this. Watch me, Arion,” Elise said, and Arion’s full attention was on her hands as she showed him how to separate the crawfish and peel the tail before eating it.

“Where are the plates?”

Rémi started coughing at Arion’s question.

Mama Cleo nodded, “Child, this here is a crawfish boil. We eat using our hands. No plates, no forks or spoons, and we use these rolls of paper towels. I guess it’s quite different from what you’re used to. Trust me, this is how you eat here at Mama’s during one of our boils. Go ahead and try something while it’s hot.”

Arion picked up a potato and took a small bite, then immediately coughed. “Spicy.”

The surrounding people started laughing, “It gets hotter the more pots they bring out. Don’t worry, there’s plenty of tea, water, and beer on tap. Dig in.”

Arion nibbled on the potato and watched everyone around him, then Elise peeled a crawfish and held out the small piece of meat to him. “Try it, Arion.”

“As you wish, Viama,” he muttered and let her feed the piece she held between her fingers to him.

He coughed from the spices and gulped some tea before nodding. “Still spicy.”

Elise smiled and handed him one of the crawfish. “Elise? Maybe you better peel that for him so he doesn’t...” Rémi started to say, then watched with an open mouth as Arion expertly peeled the crawfish.

“He has an eidetic memory. Once he sees or hears something he can copy it exactly and will never forget it.”

The food kept coming; the noise got louder, and the tears rolling down Arion’s face at the spiciness of the food kept flowing. Mama Cleo took pity on him. She got up from the table and opened a cupboard door and brought down a small sprayer. Elise nodded in understanding. After washing her hands in one of the nearby sinks, she wiped his tears away then picked up the sprayer. “Open your mouth, Arion. This spray will help cool your mouth and tongue and will help.”

Arion opened his mouth immediately, and she used the sprayer several times on his tongue and mouth. She blinked once when she saw the twin curved fangs she never noticed before. When he closed his mouth, she realized his full lips hid them. Even while speaking they didn’t show.

Arion sighed. “Thank you, Viama and Mama Cleo. That is much better.”

She smiled and placed the sprayer on the table next to him just as a fresh batch of food was poured onto the table.

“Elise, honey, I saw the news reports from that woman,” Mama Cleo said in a soft voice that wouldn’t carry over the din of noise to the next table. “You two doing okay?”

“We’ll be all right. It’s hurt business these past few days though, and we got a bunch of stuff stolen. One of the local counselors said they would see if there was something they could do on the Board’s end to stop it.”

“Hmm, they called your husband a slave, Child. Where would they get such an idea?”

Elise sat her glass down and looked at Cleo as Arion peeled another crawfish. “They looked at the Board’s public records and since the agreement the drell Matriarchy has with the Soul Mate Board includes having to reimburse the females for the loss of their male counterparts she thought she could get mileage out of calling it slavery when they are anything but slaves.”

Mama Cleo’s dark eyebrows rose almost to the bright red and yellow turban she wore, “You purchased him?”

Elise shook her head, “It’s not like that Mama Cleo. Arion’s people are rare, less than 500,000 of them in the entire galaxy. And most of them are males. They have more rights than you can imagine and any of the women harming a male under their protection or… well, owned by them are severely punished. Not like what happened centuries ago here on Earth or what is still happening with the batarians.”

Cleo hummed again and looked at Arion, then back to Elise before speaking in an unfamiliar language. Arion looked at both her and Elise and saw Elise shrug at whatever Cleo asked.

Rémi looked at them before he said something as well.

“We’ll just have to wait and see,” Elise said and both Cleo and Rémi frowned and glanced at each other before they went back to eating.

Several hours later a series of groans were heard around the room as everyone finished eating. Mama Cleo smiled as she saw everyone patting their stomachs and grinning before starting to clean up their tables. It was another hour before an adolescent boy put a wooden box on a bench near the door and hurried back into the kitchen area.

Arion watched with a curious expression as everyone hugged Mama Cleo before dropping something into a hole in the box's top and leaving.

“Thank you for dinner, Mama Cleo. I missed coming here so much.”

“We missed having you here, Elise. It’s been over four years since you came to a crawfish boil. We hope you’ll be coming back more often now and make sure to bring your husband with you. He seemed to take to the boil after getting used to the spices and using the sprayer. I’ll send a mister and a refill of my blend in a few days.”

“It has been a pleasure, Mama Cleo. This experience was quite unique and I thank you for the memory,” Arion said as he allowed the woman to hug him once more.

“You are welcome here anytime, Arion. You both stay in touch and come back soon.”

Elise smiled and after Rémi dropped something into the box, she reached into her pocket and took out the folded credits, then put them in the box.

Arion waited until they were back on the pier before asking her about it.

“Everyone gives what they can. Some families come to Mama’s to eat when they can’t afford to buy groceries. She doesn’t turn anyone away. If you’re willing to help clean up or do a few chores for her; she’ll feed you. The box lets people drop in what they can afford with no one else seeing, so they don’t feel ashamed if they can only give a little. Most people living in the swamp don’t have omni tools or electronic gadgets past generators for power, many living in the bayou live hand to mouth. They hunt or fish and that’s what they eat or trade for vegetables to supplement their catch. Mama uses the credits to buy extra food and cooks it, then she and her sons take it to those who can’t leave their houses because of illness or injury. Like Cissy’s mother. One of the boys will box a huge portion of the boil and give it to Cissy to take home with her.”

The ride back to Rémi’s house took less time than what it had to get to Cleo’s since Rémi didn’t stop to tell any more tales.

Rémi whistled for his dogs, then hugged Elise before getting permission to shake Arion’s hand. “Remember what I said, Cher. If you need anything, you call, and don’t forget to bring him here during the day so we can let him see the swamp properly. You never know, he might even spot the Loup Garou before you go home that night.”

Arion tipped his head to the side, “What is the Loup Garou?”

Elise smacked Rémi in the arm again. “Rémi… I swear.”

After getting into the car and making a U-Turn they waited until Rémi opened the gate before waving and heading home. The van had long ago left so Elise didn’t bother taking the auto-drive off but let the car drive them home while they sat back and relaxed.

* * *

  
  


Elise just slid under the covers when she felt Arion roll toward her and shifted to lean upon his elbow.

“Thank you for taking me to Mama Cleo’s, Viama, and for trusting me enough to show me your greenhouse. It has been a rather enjoyable few days, even with the reporter and rude people.”

Elise smiled. “I enjoyed it too.”

Arion blinked, then hesitated briefly before touching Elise’s face. His fingertips slid along her cheekbone and across her lips. He swallowed audibly before leaning toward her and kissing her. The contact was brief and light as a fluttering of butterfly wings against her before he pulled back.

“I’m sorry, Viama. I shouldn’t have done that without permission.”

Elise’s eyes were wide as she stared into Arion’s. “It... it’s okay, Arion. Let’s just get some sleep, tomorrow morning will be a busy day in the store. We will do inventory for the monthly loss report for the business.”

She saw how his shoulders slumped a little before he nodded and laid back down. “Good night, Arion.”

“Good night, Elise.”


	13. Chapter 13

* * *

When they opened the door from the stockroom into the main store, Arion looked up as Elise grumbled again. He followed her gaze and saw, yet again, the reporter and her fans outside the door. He placed the tray of supplements down and loaded the drawer as Elise started scanning and counting the shop’s inventory of empty pots.

When the banging on the door and windows started, she gritted her teeth. She glanced up and saw people holding signs saying she was a slave master and shouldn’t shop in her store.

Elise used the security system’s two-way communication device and told them to leave. They were loitering and blocking the entrance to her store. The protesters just started yelling and calling her a slave owner and calling for the boycott of her business and her arrest.

“That’s it. I’ve had enough,” Elise said and opened her omni tool. She moved over near the window and recorded what was happening outside, getting faces, then contacted the local Soul Mate office.

“Thank you for calling the New Orleans division of the Soul Mate Board. How may I direct your call?”

Elise told the receptionist she needed to speak to the local representative assigned to their case. When the woman answered, Elise quickly explained how the situation had escalated and sent her the vid she took from the window.

“Unacceptable. I am upgrading your case for immediate response by the Enforcement division. They’ll work with the local law enforcement officials. I’ll also contact the Soul Mate Board on the Citadel and forward all the information to the Counselor assigned directly to you.”

Elise breathed a sigh of relief as she nodded and thanked the counselor.

Not even ten minutes later a black shuttle with the white Soul Mate symbol on the doors pulled to a stop outside of the shop. Elise laughed as the protesters or whatever they were called, she personally thought of them as nothing more than a pain in the ass, scattered. The Enforcers caught several still holding the signs and detained them.

The local police came and arrested them for breaking the law, for loitering when the no loitering signs in front of the shop were clearly visible and also for attempting to damage private property when they banged on the windows and shop door.

The reporter who kept shouting about her right to Free Speech as they arrested her got a shock when the officer stated clearly she was being arrested for breaking the restraining order placed against her from four years before which was still in effect. She wasn’t to come within three hundred feet of the shop and was in violation of the order multiple times if the newspaper material was accurate, let alone being arrested right outside the front door.

One Enforcer approached the officer placing her cuffs on the reporter.

“I am Lieutenant Carter of the 153rd Enforcement Division for the Soul Mate Project. By order of the Soul Mate Board, I have the authority to take custody of the accused to be processed at the Soul Mate office under directive 59889 of the Soul Mate Board agreement with Earth Parliament. If you’re not familiar with the directive, it is in correlation to anyone who incites acts of discrimination, hate, and/or harassment against a Soul Bound couple because of species or species requirements with the Soul Mate Project.”

The policewoman looked at the Enforcer, then to the reporter. “She’s all yours, and to fully comply, here is the bench warrant for her arrest in conjunction with failure to comply with a restraining order.” She transferred the information to the Enforcer, then removed her own cuffs so the Lieutenant could put the suppression cuffs on.

The Enforcer began reading the reporter her rights and stating the reasons for her arrest.

The two local cops whistled as they watched the Enforcers round up the ones they were hauling in to face various charges. “I would not want to be in her shoes,” the policewoman whispered to her partner who nodded in agreement then went to knock on the shop door.

After explaining what happened and having her sign off on the report, the two cops left and Elise shut and locked the door.

A few minutes later, she received a call from the local Soul Mate office letting her know everything would be taken care of by them, but they would need her and her soul mate to come in to press formal charges and fill out the paperwork within the next few hours.

“Arion?”

Arion stood up from behind the counter where he had been counting the unopened boxes of generic note cards.

“We must head over to the office in an hour or so. Let’s finish up this side of the store, then we’ll get the rest when we return.”

“Of course, Elise. Do you think the people will stay away from the store now? What about the stolen goods?”

“Doubt we’ll get any of it back. It’s why an accurate count is necessary and an attached report from the police officer which shows us reporting the items is important.”

When they arrived at the Soul Mate office, they saw other people sitting in the waiting room and after running their omni tools under the scanner they went in and sat down. It didn’t take long before several others converged on them. It took Arion holding up his hands while Elise told them not to touch him for them to get some breathing space.

They answered the questions which kept coming about where he was from, how long they were bound, what brought them to the office. The last question they glossed over by saying a few locals were just causing a bit of trouble. One of the human men raised an eyebrow and leaned toward his mate to whisper something in his ear.

“Now I know who you two are. There’s been a lot of talk in the local news about you. They say you bought him and he’s a sex slave.”

Elise rolled her eyes and sighed.

Arion frowned, “I am not now, nor have I ever been a slave. I don’t understand humans at all. What is so difficult to understand about cultural differences?”

“Arion, it’s all right. It honestly doesn’t matter what they think, you and I know differently. If people would take a few minutes to learn about someone’s culture or way of life before they jump to conclusions, it would be great. Unfortunately, most people do not.”

Elise stood as did Arion, “If you will excuse us we will move to a different section of the room. Have a pleasant day.”

It was three hours later before they finally returned home. It had been a long and grueling process for both of them to sit and tell the counselor what happened, then have to do the same thing again when someone from the Soul Mate legal department joined them.

Arion rubbed his stomach.

“I know you’re hungry, Arion. I’m starving as well. Let’s go eat and get back to work.”

* * *

  
  


They were counting the decorative vases when a knock sounded on the door. Elise looked up to see a delivery person from a local courier service standing there with an enormous box next to him and a datapad in his hand.

“Wonder what’s going on? I’m not expecting any deliveries until next week.”

“Ms. Elise LaRue?”

Elise nodded, and he held out the datapad. “Delivery from the Soul Mate Project, Kahje. Place your thumb in the designated area to accept delivery.”

She did as instructed and the courier activated the lift field and helped to maneuver the box through the door before he nodded and left.

“What is it, Viama?” Arion said as he joined her in the store's front.

“I don’t know. Here’s the datapad. Why don’t you read it while I open the box?”

Arion swiped to the next document on the pad.

“To Elise and Arion LaRue,

I hope this communique finds you both well. The local counselor notified me of the problems you have been encountering. If you feel the local offices can not handle the situation, do not be afraid to contact me for support or additional aid.

Along with the update came a request for contact with a Matriarch on Kahje. I took the liberty of contacting her myself and forwarding your request. After some negotiation and assurances that you own a florist business and would not be selling products made from the flowers, just the flowers themselves in bouquets, she agreed to provide several packages of seeds and the directions you will need to cultivate them. Please be advised, she stipulated, you must sell the flowers only as cuttings and not as a potted plant. No other persons outside of yourself and Arion have permission to grow these flowers for any purpose.

She also sent an inquiry about possibly receiving an Earth equivalent to the flowers.

If you would like to offer a specimen from your shop, please let me know. I will be happy to send a courier to your store and have it shipped to the Matriarch for you. This exchange will go a long way toward cementing relations between humans, drell, and the Soul Mate Project.

Sincerely,

Saryx Disava, Counselor for the Soul Mate Project Board, Citadel”

Arion lowered the datapad and blinked at Elise, “You sent for the special flower from Kahje?”

Elise smiled and nodded, “I did. I wanted to surprise you with it, I hope it helps with acclimating to living here. Especially, after all the crap that’s been going on lately.”

Arion stared at her for several minutes as she deactivated the locks on the container and opened it. Elise felt a touch on her shoulder and she stood up to see what Arion wanted. She gasped as she was engulfed in his strong embrace.

“Arion?”

“Thank you, Viama. No one has thought to give me such a gift or even really thought about what would make me happy. Thank you.”

She smiled and returned his hug only to gasp as he kissed her again. This time his lips weren’t hesitant, but steady and sure. The kiss only lasted a minute and his eyes remained closed as he leaned his forehead against her and whispered his thanks again.

She stroked the side of his face, which caused a deep rumbling sound from his chest before she stepped out of his arms and turned to open the box. The contents had been carefully packed with several small plants in decorated pots cushioned in one section while the other contained two fully grown flowering plants, and a large, sealed, decorative box labeled Seeds.

“Oh my. These are beautiful,” she whispered as she stared down into the box. She knelt to get a closer look at the plants. The long stems contained offshoots of flower clusters in purple, blue, and white. The flower cluster showed each individual blossom on its own long stem with five perfectly formed petals and a long filament tipped with a black stamen.

Arion leaned over her to look down in the box. “I’ve never seen one. The other breeder let us smell the lotions he received, but that was all. They are pretty and will be an exciting addition to your store.”

“Our store, Arion, you’re my husband; a LaRue. Help me get these to the greenhouse and clear out the small section where I kept the surplus violets. We’ll put these in there and I’ll start to propagate them as quickly as I can.”

After setting the plants into their designated spots in the greenhouse, Elise took a holo of the fully grown plants and sent it to her mother with a caption of “Kahje Lace Flowers–just arrived straight from the farm on Kahje. Aren’t they beautiful? They smell similar to a combination of vanilla, heather, and lilac. The first time anyone other than the Matriarch who grows these has them available. They’ve never left Kahje until now except in drell scale lotions or bathing stuff.”

A few minutes later a return message came from her mother. “Gorgeous. We’re scheduled to return at the end of next week. Before we leave, we’ll be sending you a container with the herbs and edible flowers from Nos Astra. The container will be sealed and we’ll get it approved to ship straight to Earth before we leave. Our shuttle is due to land at 4 PM if you wouldn’t mind coming to pick us up.”

Elise sent a reply and told Arion they had to take the rest of the stuff out of the greenhouse and stack it all at the back of the storeroom. When they finished, she ordered delivery from one of the local restaurants and carefully read over the cultivation and propagation needs for the new plant.

Arion disappeared after dinner to bathe. Elise updated the business records and uploaded a copy of them to the secure server before placing restock orders. The last thing she did was send a notice to her customers of a sale on violets, then made two paper signs to indicate the sale to her walk-in customers.

When she entered the bedroom she saw Arion sitting up in bed with his omni tool open watching a vid on it. He quickly shut it off and smiled at her.

“What were you watching?”

“A human documentary on this area. I wanted to find out what the Loup Garou was so Rémi wouldn’t be able to trick me with a legend again.”

Elise laughed and moved over to the bed and sat down. “Yeah, his tourist business comes highly recommended because of the legends he makes up. They come from centuries ago and he just keeps making them more outrageous every time he tells them. Just to let you know, one of his cousins likes to dress up as the Loup-Garou to scare the visitors by running on a specially marked and protected wooden walkway. At certain intervals, he shows just enough of himself in that damn costume to cause people to point and ask what it was. They’ve also got a sound system set up to scare people with wolf howls now and again. They pull that crap at twilight when people start to have a hard time seeing as it is and it just scares them worse. Then they laugh and leave him recommendations and come back again the next year to glimpse the werewolf or demon gator. Gods only know what he will come up with next.”

Arion chuckled softly as he watched Elise gather her sleepwear and head back out the door. He sighed, and she looked back at him.

“What was the heavy sigh for?”

He looked down at the blanket covering his lap and started plucking at it.

“Arion?”

He sighed again. “It is nothing, Elise.”

She looked at him for a few seconds, “Okay, if you say so.”

After she left, he sighed again and laid down.

When Elise returned, she noticed him once again on his side with the covers pulled up almost to his nose. After she got into bed and said goodnight she heard another heavy sigh coming from him.

“Arion, what is going on? That’s the second sigh that came from you tonight.”

“It’s not...”

“Don’t tell me it’s nothing, Arion, because it is obvious something is bothering you.”

He sighed yet again.

“Arion, just tell me what’s on your mind.”

He waited a few minutes, then rolled toward her. “Why won’t you claim me? I know you said you weren’t ready, but we know each other better now. You know I’d do nothing to hurt you. You’ve let me kiss you and not punish me for doing so. You’ve sent for the flowers because you thought they’d make me happy, and they do. I want to be yours, I want our bonding. I don’t feel like your Suinima. I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have said anything.” He quickly turned away from her and curled up in a ball with the covers drawn up as far as they could go.

“Oh, Arion. I know you won’t hurt me and we’ve been getting to know each other as you said. I’m just not ready, but when I do become ready, I’ll gladly claim you. Don’t be afraid to voice your concerns to me, I know I don’t really tell you what’s going on with me, and I’m sorry for that. There are a few things I have to figure out first, but when I’m ready, you’ll definitely know it.”

She scooted closer and wrapped an arm around him to hug him. “Relax and try to get some sleep. I’ll need your help in the greenhouse tomorrow with our new flowers and getting ready for the herbs my parents are sending us.” She kissed his shoulder and felt him slowly uncurl and shift a bit. “Goodnight, Suinima.”

“Goodnight, Viama.”


	14. Chapter 14

* * *

They woke two hours earlier than normal to have enough time to do some work in the greenhouse and post the signs for the violet sale.

Elise saw someone knocking on the glass window. It was the woman who ran the bakery next door holding a drink carrier with two cups on it and a bag.

Elise muttered something which sounded like “nosy gossip” before she smiled and went to the door.

“Good morning, Elise. I brought you and your soul mate some breakfast,” the woman said as she glanced around Elise and looked toward the interior of the shop.

“Come on in. I hope you brought herbal tea or juice as Arion’s people can’t tolerate high levels of caffeine.”

The woman stepped into the shop. “Oh dear, I didn’t know and brought two coffees with cream and sugar. I hope he can have crullers. These are fresh from the pan.”

Elise gave a tight-lipped smile, “Yes, he likes sweets. Anything with honey in it or as a glaze.”

The baker chuckled, “Well, that’s good to know.” She looked around again before frowning. “So where is he? I’d like to get his opinion on the pastry and apologize for not bringing him an appropriate drink.”

“He’s busy at the moment. I’ll take them to him and he can just go upstairs to our apartment for some juice to go with the doughnuts.”

“Oh. Well, here they are. I hope you all enjoy them,” she said with a disappointed tone in her voice.

Elise nodded and smiled as she took the container from the woman. When the baker didn’t start walking toward the door right away, Elise’s eyebrow rose.

“Thank you for breakfast. Was there something else?”

“Well, now that you mention it,” the woman said and Elise tried not to sigh. “What was all the commotion about yesterday? My customers were saying they saw police and even the Enforcer squad beating people outside your door. One customer even swore they saw you yanking a sign from someone and hitting the reporter woman with it.”

Elise blinked in astonishment. “I beg your pardon?”

“Well, my customers were all watching what was going on. I was baking the late morning bread, minding my own business, and they just started talking about it. Of course, I told them I don’t participate in gossiping about my neighbors. But I couldn’t help but overhear them.”

Elise gritted her teeth before replying. “First off, had I assaulted anyone as they claimed I wouldn’t be standing here but sitting in jail. Perhaps your… customers should learn to check their facts and not spread lies or gossip. Again, thank you for the breakfast, but I have quite a bit more work to do before opening today. Goodbye.”

The woman sniffed when she figured out Elise wouldn’t share the details of what went on with her and turned toward the door.

After locking the door again, Elise went to the backroom with the container and put it on the small desk. Arion looked at it then up at her. “What is this?”

“The baker next door tried to use sweets and coffee to get me to tell her what went on here yesterday since she didn’t have details and could only listen to gossiping people who blew everything out of proportion and made things up. Did you know, I left the store yesterday during the whole thing and grabbed a picketer’s sign and beat the reporter with it?”

Arion stared at her, “No, you did not. Nothing of the sort happened.”

Elise shook her head, “Apparently people saw me doing it.”

Arion frowned as he opened the bag and took out one of the sweet doughnuts. “Do all humans do this sort of thing? Make up stories and exaggerate?”

“Not all of them, but many of them do. Anyway, finish your breakfast while I get the store’s display ready.”

* * *

  
  


Elise bent to pick up her copy of the New Orleans Now paper after the boy tossed it at the door. She flipped the neon sign on and wiped a smudge off the inside of the glass door before carrying the paper to the counter.

The headlines blared at her from the page, “New Orleans Now Reporter Attacked and Falsely Arrested By Soul Mate Enforcers.”

Elise shook her head and sent a notice to the local counselor before tossing the paper into the recycle bin. A few minutes later Elise’s omni tool rang with a reply and a notice of an Enforcer being dispatched to guard her shop due to threats of violence against them.

“Arion?”

The orange drell flung open the door when she called his name, “Elise? What is wrong?”

She quickly updated him and he hurried back to the storeroom to gather the packets and items they needed for the day, then locked up after checking to make sure all the other entrances were secured.

The Enforcer arrived and introduced herself before moving to a corner to lean against the wall as the customers trickled in. The first one lifted a palm-sized object and yelled at how she should be in jail for attacking a poor reporter.

When the Enforcer shifted her stance, he finally noticed her. “I hope you were about to purchase the bauble in your hand and not attempt to damage the property or assault Mr. or Mrs. LaRue,” the Enforcer’s smooth voice said as she took a step forward. “After all, I would hate to have to disturb the other customers with having to arrest an offender inside this establishment.”

The man slammed the globe down, cracking it in the process, and the Enforcer shook her head. “I’m afraid that is malicious damage to store property. I must report this to the local police who are on their way.”

“Prove it was malicious, I’ll say it just slipped and was an accident.”

“Considering not only are there security cameras throughout the building, but you’re also being recorded through the Enforcers live streams to the Soul Mate Enforcer Division and a copy is being uploaded and added to your personal file, Mr. Davis, I don’t believe for one moment anyone viewing it would see or hear it as anything but maliciousness.”

The man paled and the other customers moved to the other side of the store as one of the local officers came through the door.

Elise shook her head as they led the man away. One of the other customers hurried to the counter with one of the small, white violet containers in her hands. “I’ll take this, I found it on the sale display.”

“Thank you for your business. Here is a sample packet of the fertilizer and food supplement it will need to thrive. There is also a care sheet. If you’ve got questions about the care of the plant and it’s not covered on the sheet, feel free to call the store,” Arion said as he slid the small pot across the scanner and placed it in a handled bag.

The girl looked around nervously before whispering, “If you’re in trouble I can help. I can rescue you from slavery. All you need to do is say the word and my friends and I can come to your aid.”

Arion tipped his head to the side. “I appreciate the offer, but I am not a slave. Male drell are not slaves to anyone. I do not understand why humans do not seem to understand this fact. I do not need to be rescued from my wife and soul mate, have a good day.”

The girl blushed and grabbed the bag before rushing toward the door.

Arion shook his head at Elise’s questioning look.

The day progressed with more gawkers who left as soon as they saw the Enforcer inside or customers who purchased a small trinket or a violet on sale and hurried out the door whispering to their companions.

The Enforcer stretched and leaned against the counter, “Has it been like this for you both since becoming Soul Bound?” she asked.

Elise nodded, “It’s been good some days, and others like today. It’s still not as bad as when the reporter first started with the whole slave thing. We had so many items stolen and our sales plummeted. It’s not like I make a ton of credits anyway, but every sale counts right now.”

The Enforcer grunted and straightened back up, “Well, I’m hoping it settles down for you both soon. We don’t have many Soul Bound couples around here and we do our best to take care of them. Although, I have to admit this is the first time I’ve had to guard a flower shop instead of hunting down criminals.”

Elise chuckled and looked toward the door when the chime tinkled a customer again.

“Mrs. McCoy, welcome back,” Elise said to the older woman as she shuffled along the aisle.

“Good afternoon, Elise. Glad to see you and Arion looking well after all the hullabaloo that’s been going on around here. I saw the advertisement for violets. I hope I’m not too late getting here for one.”

“Thank you, Mrs. McCoy, we have plenty of them left. How about a nice red one to go with the dark purple you already have?”

* * *

  
  


The Enforcer waved to them and said she would return daily until she received orders otherwise. They thanked her and watched as she looked around the outside of the store and building before boarding the Soul Mate shuttle parked nearby.

* * *

  
  


The end of the week was quickly approaching, and they looked forward to their day off. Things had calmed down a lot, especially once the paper had to print a retraction and apology to them. Of course, it was on page ten of the paper buried between the obituaries and the used skycar ads, but it was there.

Over dinner, Elise told Arion about the incoming shipment of herbs and edible flowers they were receiving from Thessia the next day and what they would need to do to prepare for them.

“Mom said most of them are coming in seed form, so we must set up the area with seedling mats and domes. The fully grown plants are for us to use and learn about before selling them in the store. Since we don’t have an enormous customer base wanting the succulents I was thinking of putting them on closeout and not restocking them, but using their area for the herbs. What do you think?”

He thought about it and agreed, “Since I’ve been here, only one plant from the grouping has sold. Same with the one species of green leaf plant. Inventory records over the past month show a steady sale of the arrangements with the evergreens and various tropical flora, but the pots of just evergreens sit there.”

“Huh, I never noticed. If we stop selling those as well and rearrange a few things we can use the back shelf for the entire stock of herbs and edibles, adding ones from Earth into the mix as well.”

“Add several more arrangements with different flowers than you already have and run an advertisement for them alongside the one for the new plants. I believe it will bring in customers who normally wouldn’t come for the herbs.”

Elise grinned, “Good idea. You’ve certainly learned a lot since you first came here.”

“I watch everyone. Watching and learning what the Matriarch liked or disliked was part of my training. I simply used it differently to help my Viama.”

* * *

  
  


They spent the following day inside the greenhouse moving things around and cleaning up the section for the new items. By dinner time they were both exhausted and dirty from filling the seedling cups with fresh soil from the enormous container of bags that arrived with the plants.

“Ugh, this is the worst thing about having the greenhouse,” she said as she tried to scrub as much of the dirt from her skin as she could.

“I am not so certain this will come out from under my scales, Viama,” Arion hissed as he scrubbed using his own items.

“Take a shower and scrub yourself while I order dinner and let my parents know we received the shipments. I’ll get mine after you’re done. It will take me a while since I somehow seemed to have gotten some soil in my hair.”

He hummed and shook the water from his hands before reaching for the buttons on the bright colored shirt he wore. By the time Elise realized what he was doing he stripped naked and stood there spreading out the sand catching mat on the bathroom floor.

He reached for the sand warmer and looked at her in the mirror as he turned it on. “Since I do not use the shower system, why don’t you use it now instead of waiting and having to endure the itchiness of having the dirt on you.”

Elise’s mouth opened and closed.

“On Kahje, the male bathroom was an open room where all of us would gather and bathe,” he said as he stirred the warm sand with a long-handled paddle. “It was a place for us to relax and talk together. Since coming here I’ve had to bathe alone and miss the company of others during this time.” His gaze flicked over her face before lowering back to the jar.

“The public baths comprised many areas which any of the Matriarchs could use and take their Suinimas or bound Pashi to and spend the day being pampered and spoiled. Most of us would talk about what it must be like to be one of those males, what it would be like to share a bath with their wives or owners after they bond to them.

“We haven’t performed the bonding part of our marriage yet, but this we could do. I would know what it would be like to share the bath with my soul mate, even if it isn’t the same as what it would have been on Kahje or if you were a drell.”

Elise remained still as Arion scooped a small bowl of sand from the jar. He put the lid back on and pushed it toward the end of the counter before dipping a brush into the bowl.

She watched as he started to brush the sand along his shoulders and down his arms. “Perhaps you would do me the honor of cleansing my back. It is very difficult to do so on my own. It would make me feel much better, Viama.”

Arion continued to coat his upper body in the sand until he finished, then scooped out a small amount from the jar again and held out the brush to her. “Will you do this for me?”

She hesitated then reached for the brush.

“Just dip it into the warm sand and stroke it along my back from shoulder to waist, Viama.”

He let out a vibrating hum sound as he felt the brush run down his back. A soft sigh followed as he felt the sand filled bristles moving gently along his scales and beginning to clean off the build-up left behind from his own attempts at self-maintenance. “That feels perfect, Viama. I will no longer itch and worry about the roughness of the scales. I thank you for helping me with this as it will make my shedding time much easier and quicker.”

“Shedding?” Elise asked as she dipped the brush again and ran it down his orange scaled back. The play of muscles under his scales fascinated her as they twitched with each stroke.

“Yes. In a few months, I will shed the outer layer of scales when the fresh ones are ready. It will remove any damaged ones and build-up leftover from trying to clean and smooth them on my own. I did not realize it would be a troublesome thing as I was used to having other males to help take care of the areas I could not reach and doing the same for them in return.”

“Maybe we should discuss it with the Soul Mate counselor and let them know in case others have the same issue. Since your species are new to the Project, it’s possible it was never discussed. I certainly didn’t know about it or about your shedding until this moment.”

She handed him the brush and started to leave when he stopped her. “Wait, Viama. Will you scrape the sand from there? It will remove the debris and you’ll be able to do it better than I could. You can then take your shower while I finish. There will be one more step afterward, and that is to put the lotion on my back and shoulders so my scales remain smooth.”

Elise scratched her forehead then her scalp, grimacing when she saw the dirt under her fingernails. “All right, I guess. But I’m not so sure about this showering thing while you’re in here. I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that.”

Arion looked down at the floor and nodded before he handed her the rubber scraping tool.

She followed his instructions on how to use it and watched as with each scrape down his back sand, dirt, and loose scales fell onto the mat. “This is rather gross, Arion.”

“It is usually not so bad. I’ve been struggling with trying to get my back clean and haven’t been able to do so as well as I had hoped. I am sorry, Elise.”

“You don’t need to apologize. It’s just something I’m not used to I guess. Maybe they sell something at one of the bath stores you can adapt to use for this.”

“Maybe,” he said his voice so quiet she barely heard him over the scraping of the tool along his back.

“I think I got it all.”

She handed him the tool. He nodded before saying thank you and ran the tool down his arm.

He didn’t look at her, and she wondered why. After a few seconds, she turned and left the bathroom. She didn’t hear his lonely sounding hum as the door shut behind her.

She tightened the belt of her robe before picking up the dirty clothing and jamming them into the washing machine. Unlike their regular clothing which could be sent through the decontamination and fresher unit, the ones they wore in the greenhouse or to a crawfish boil had to be washed the old fashioned way to remove the soil or residue of food from them.

She pushed the button on the old machine when Arion left the bathroom to clean off his mat. She hurried inside and started a hot shower going in the hopes she’d finish scrubbing herself clean by the time he returned.

Elise was still drying her hair as she left the bathroom. She noticed Arion sitting on a stool in the kitchen area with his head hanging down and a glazed look in his eyes.

“Arion?”

He seemed to snap out of whatever was happening when she called his name. His eyes met hers as he looked up. “Yes, Elise?”

“Are you okay? You looked kinda weird there for a second.”

“Just a memory,” he said as he bent down to retrieve the sand mat and carry it back to the bathroom.

* * *

  
  


Arion had spoken little to her for the rest of the week. Several times she saw him sitting on the couch or standing in front of their window looking outside while lost in a memory.

Elise’s parents were due to arrive the next morning. Arion asked if he could remain at the apartment since the last time he was at the skyport hadn’t gone so well.

Elise said yes, and he thanked her then left the room. Her forehead furrowed as she frowned at his retreating back.


	15. Chapter 15

* * *

As Elise waited for her parent’s shuttle to arrive from Nos Astra, she pondered Arion’s recent behavior. His normal chatting to her, while they readied for the workday, had almost ceased. He spent most of his time making packets or stocking the shelves during work. After they closed for the night, he’d sit and watch some old earth shows on the holo-screen, then eat dinner when it was ready, disappearing soon after to bathe. He would remain in the bedroom for the rest of the night while she did her normal nightly routine and when she entered the lights were off and he was under the covers. She would give her usual good night and not receive a response, even though she was almost sure he was awake.

She checked the time, then placed a call to the Citadel’s Soul Mate support line. The music they forced her to listen to while on hold drove her crazy before she heard a click on the line and her counselor answered.

“This is Counselor Disava, how can I help you, Elise?”

“I’m having a bit of a problem… well, maybe not so much of a problem, but Arion has acted strangely over the last few days and I’m not sure what is going on or how to ask about it.”

Saryx leaned back in her chair and looked at the woman. “Have you at least attempted to ask him what was wrong?”

Elise nodded, “I did several times and he just mumbles ‘nothing’ then goes back to staring out a window or making busy work in the shop.”

“Did it start or get worse when you two were having difficulties with the reporter?”

“He acted weird then, but when I asked about it he told me what was going on with him, and things sort of went back to normal after we talked. Then he started this again, and it’s worse now than it was before.”

“Has he told you if he’s feeling ill? We’ve had reports of a few of the first wave males acting strange now and again until they were used to their change in the situation, but it usually took than less than a month to acclimate. Give me as much information on his behavior and what happened around the same time, and I’ll contact the drell representative to find out what steps we should take.”

Elise told her of everything happening in the last week and how he acted. “There is one other thing, Arion is having trouble with what he calls self-maintenance with keeping his back clean. The tools which came with the bathing kit aren’t working well and we were wondering if any of the other couples may have come up with a working solution, especially if any of them are mated to humans since it would be less expensive to adapt something from Earth than to order it from the Citadel.”

“I’ll check in on it. There is only one other drell matched with a human so far and their bonding hasn’t taken place yet so they wouldn’t be able to answer. Perhaps one of our personnel on Kahje may know of something. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. In the meantime, you can try talking with him again, if he doesn’t tell you what’s going on maybe you both should call me. I can speak with him or put him in contact with the representative who may help to resolve the issue or find out why Arion isn’t doing so well.”

“Okay, when I get home I’ll do that. Thanks for the help.”

Saryx smiled, “You’re welcome, Elise.”

* * *

As she weaved in and out of traffic and only half-listened to the stories Kathrine told of the gardens they visited, Elise thought more of how Arion behaved lately. It almost seemed as if he wasn’t there most of the time; mentally, at least. Physically, he did his job in the shop, answered most questions with little inflection to his voice, and didn’t ask her to help him with cleaning his scales or even try to get her to claim him anymore.

“Elise? Honey? Is everything all right?” her mother asked when Elise had said nothing.

“Hmm? What?”

“I asked if everything was all right. I wanted to know if you and Arion would like to go to Mama Cleo’s and you didn’t answer after I asked you several times.”

“Oh, sorry. Woolgathering, I suppose. We’ll have to ask Arion when we get home. I took him there a little while ago and he liked it after Mama Cleo gave him her cooling spray.”

“I’m glad you’ve spent time with him away from work. How’s he adjusting to the store and being married?”

Elise gripped the wheel of the skycar a little firmer as she dipped down into the lane to make the turn into the residential area. “He’s not doing so good.”

“Oh dear,” Kathrine mumbled.

* * *

They entered a silent apartment and Arion didn’t answer when Elise called his name. “I wonder where he is?”

Bastien sat a bag with several souvenirs for them on the dining room table. “Could he have gone to town?”

“Maybe. He has the access codes for the transports and knows how to use them. He enjoys going to the old voodoo shop and looking around, the owners and workers know not to touch him or let others touch him. They always keep a close watch when he’s there in case a tourist gets the wrong idea about him.” She shrugged, “But he usually only goes there and to the beignet cafe the day after he gets paid because he likes to keep a schedule for everything.”

Bastien emptied the bag and folded it for recycling as Elise walked toward the stairs leading to the bedroom and master bathroom.

“Arion?”

Elise opened the door to the dark bedroom and closed the door when she saw it was also empty. She frowned and knocked on the bathroom door. It slid open when she tapped the panel on the wall. It was empty too.

“Where in the world could he be?”

“Elise? I think he’s on the roof. The security logs show access granted from inside the apartment and it’s his code.” Kathrine said as Elise jogged down the stairs.

“Huh, guess he wanted some sun. I’ll ask him about dinner.”

“Maybe before then, we should talk. Your father received a call from the estate lawyer a few days ago. He reminded us of the conditions of your great-grandmother’s will and the terms of the agreement for both the ownership of the shop and the trade secret.”

Elise sighed and rubbed her forehead, “I know. I got the same call. Only mine came with incessant urging, couched under polite advice.”

Elise flopped down on the couch as her mother and father turned the chairs of the seating group around to face her before they sat down.

“He laid out our options again as well, though we don’t want to have to go through with any of them. This shop is yours, it was meant to be yours, and I don’t think it would be as prosperous under anyone else. Not to mention, I don’t know of anyone who would guard the safety of our family secret so well.”

Elise looked over at her father, “What options did he mention?”

“We could attempt to have another child. We could have a designer clone child created for us using our DNA. Or we could legally adopt a baby. Then hope the resulting child would be able to take over when they come of age if you don’t produce a viable candidate.”

Elise leaned forward and put her elbows on her thighs as she rubbed her face with her palms. “He said almost the same thing to me. Only he added to it. If I don’t produce a LaRue and the other options aren’t met, then the shop will go to Aunt Liana or one of her kids.”

Bastien groaned. “Damn it all. You know my sister will either ruin the shop within a month or outright sell the secret once she gets her hands on it. That entire part of the family are greedy bastards. Mom could tell it about her since she was five and would steal my toys to sell to the other kids at school, then blatantly lie about doing it. Somehow she found someone even greedier than she is to marry and produced lazy, whiny, greedy kids to boot.”

“Oh dear,” her mother said as she slumped in her chair. A moment later she straightened up. “Then there is no other option. You will have to find someone who can give you a child, Elise since Arion can’t.”

None of them heard Arion enter the apartment or saw him standing next to the divider screen until his harsh whisper of “Viama? You will replace me?”

Elise jerked toward the sound, and her parent’s heads turned as well.

Arion blinked and backed up a few steps before disappearing behind the divider.

“Oh crap,” Elise said as she jumped up and hurried after him.

She saw him turn the corner at the top of the short flight of stairs and took them two at a time to catch up to him.

When she entered the bedroom, she found him lying on the bed facing away from the door. “Arion? It’s not what you think. You misunderstood. I’m not replacing you. I can’t and I don’t want to. There is only one soul mate for each of us and you’re mine.”

“I am a failure. The mistress was right. I am defective. A worthless male.”

“No, you’re not. Stop saying that. You’re not worthless.”

“I can not give my Viama what she needs. You turn my attentions away, so I’m not pleasing to you. Now you seek another to give you what I can not. You’re willing to share your body and give to them what you deny me. I’m worthless.”

“Arion, you’re not. Please, believe me,” Elise said and sat on the bed next to him. “As far as sharing my body, that is a definite no. There is no way on this Earth I would do that. The counselor told me about the drell’s inability to clone their cells or create chromosomal tailored children. It’s not so for humans. We’ve been doing in vitro fertilization for generations now. Our doctors can implant fertilized eggs into us and have them grow into healthy children without the need to have sex to do so. We’ve advanced so far, we can take the genetic material and modify it only a little to create a child, only a ten percent difference in genetics.”

A soft knock sounded, and Elise looked up. Her father stood in the doorway with a frown on his face. “I’d like to talk to Arion if I could Elise. Since this whole situation is caused by my grandmother’s will I should be the one to tell him and answer the questions. Your mother wants to call the Lily Shack for delivery. Why don’t you help her place the order?”

Elise nodded, then touched Arion’s hip before standing.

The door closed behind her as Bastien made his way to the chair nearby. “I guess she hadn’t told you anything about the burdens the person who inherits the florist shop and the family secret carry.”

Arion didn’t answer, and Bastien sighed before running his hand over his cropped hair. “When my ancestors moved to this country, it wasn’t such a good time for them. They didn’t actually move here… more like taken from their homes, sold to someone who brought them to this land where they were sold into slavery to a landowner and forced to work on a plantation.”

Arion’s shoulder twitched, and he rolled to his side to face Bastien.

“Over the years, things changed. They abolished human slavery after a long and bloody war. But the mainstream people still mistreated those with dark-colored skin. It took centuries for it to change. Humans began to see past the color of each other’s skin and took a deeper look into the person instead. Colors lost their importance as more and more mixing of our races happened. My great grandparents settled in the bayou. They were a mix of what we call French Creole and African-American, which made up a good portion of the population. Their children would roam the swamp and learn its ways. One girl, my grandmother, discovered she had a knack for plants and they scraped every penny they could to send her to college. She became the first of our family to graduate and earned not only a Doctorate in botany but also chemistry as well. She fiddled and tested around with all kinds of chemicals until she hit upon the concoction we still use today to preserve the flowers. I have no idea what it is, and I don’t want to know either.

“Anyway, she knew the way most corporations would try to steal secrets from another, it had been happening since humans stopped bartering for goods and created a monetary system.

“She bought the florist shop from her cousin, who had inherited it and barely kept it going, and contacted lawyers to make an ironclad will after she submitted her request for Trade Secret approval for the mixture. Part of her will stated the shop had to be inherited by a LaRue and only one family member per generation will be told the secret, unless something happened to the person. Since Elise showed the same affinity as my grandmother and mother, where neither my sister nor I did, she inherited the shop, the family secret… and the responsibility of having an heir.”

“Why wasn’t she already mated? Why doesn’t she have children? Why did she accept me as her Suinima?”

Bastien leaned forward, “She didn’t have a choice in the matter, Arion. Unlike Kathrine and I, who were already married before Humanity entered the database, Elise was an unwed person. When humans come of age, it is mandatory to enter the database. No matter who they are, their background, or whether they want to. It’s the law.

“As far as Elise is concerned, she thought Jean-Paul would be the one she would marry and have children with since none of us believed we had soul mates out there somewhere. He had her so fooled into believing he cared about her that her mother and I were worried she’d become lax in how she produced the mixture and he’d find out about it or she’d just tell him. If that happened, then the trade secret rules would be broken and he could have sold the formula to anyone without Elise having recourse against him.

“Thankfully, my mother drilled it into her so well to protect the secret that he did not understand about it other than she made it in her lab and must have mixed it using the chemicals stored inside.

“Kathrine and I received a call from the estate lawyer and he gave us options if Elise failed to submit proof of her pregnancy, adoption, or another legal heir. If she fails, then Kathrine and I have to produce another child, one who would then inherit the store. Elise would lose her home, the store, and everything else. She would have to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which means after passing the secret on to the child she wouldn’t be able to tell another living soul about it so the formula would remain protected.

“If we couldn’t or wouldn’t produce a replacement, which we have no plans on doing, then my sister would inherit the business and everything which went with it. And they don’t care one iota for anything but credits and their selfish wants. They would sell the secret to the highest bidder and spend the credits within a few years, which would leave Elise with nothing.

“Elise has no other choice Arion, she has to have a child. And technically you would be his or her father, even though the child will be human.”

Arion swung his legs over the side of the mattress as he sat up. “Viama told me the truth about being able to have children without breeding to a male?”

Bastien nodded, “Yep. She’ll go to a medically certified center and after a background check, they sign legal documentation. Elise will pay for the procedure so they can use her DNA and a donor’s DNA to create a child, without her even meeting the donor in the flesh. She can even have the specific sex of the child created, eye color, skin color, height, and weight percentile.”

Arion blinked and slowly nodded as he came to believe what he heard. “She will not trade me or find a Secunima, a second husband?”

Bastien laughed, “No, son. Most of us only have one wife or husband. Elise wouldn’t want a second one, and she has no intention of getting rid of you.”

Arion seemed to take in the knowledge and worked to come to terms with it before he stood. “I thank you for explaining to me and reassuring me I will not lose my position in the house.”

“Of course not, Arion. You’re part of the family and you’ll stay that way.”

Arion stood up and Bastien did as well, “Now let’s go see if the food delivery is here. After another two weeks of nothing but asari food, I could use some down-home cooking,” Bastien said and patted Arion on the back, then froze when Arion hissed in pain.

“What’s wrong, son?”

Arion’s full lips clamped shut, and he refused to answer.

“Arion? What’s going on? What’s wrong with your back? Do you need a doctor?” He shifted around to look Arion in the eyes, “Talk to me, Arion.”

Arion blinked and a lone tear fell, “I can not clean myself properly and Elise doesn’t wish to share our bath time. I do the best I can, but...”

“Come on son, let’s go see what’s going on. You head on in and I’ll do a quick check on our wives before I come in to help you. Don’t worry Arion, you’re my son and if you need help, all you need to do is ask.”

After a quick word to Kathrine, Bastien hurried to the master bathroom, unsure what he would find, but willing to help however he could. He didn’t expect to find a naked Arion standing on a woven mat with blood dripping down his back.

“Arion, what in the world? You’re bleeding.”

Arion stirred the sand in the warming jar. “I apologize. I understand if you’ve changed your mind. I am a most unpleasant sight, I’m sure.”

“That’s not what I meant, Arion,” Bastien said. “Why are you bleeding?”

Arion sighed. “I can not remove the debris of shedding scales, dirt, and oil build-up, and other things like lint from human clothing from my back alone. The scales become damaged and sharp without proper care. They tear off when I remove my leathers. I try… drell males take care of each other so this doesn’t happen, but here it is different,” Arion said almost in a whisper.

“Does Elise know about this? She wouldn’t let your back get this way.” Bastien said as he took the moist towel from Arion and dabbed away the blood from his back.

“Elise knows I’m having issues, but prefers not to share time in here. I do not wish to be a burden, and it is a male’s duty to follow our female’s wishes. She is looking for a different tool for me to use.”

“I doubt she feels you’re a burden. She will be upset about this though, I can promise you that. You should have told her how bad this was or, more importantly, why hasn’t she noticed it herself? I’m sure she’s seen you plenty of times when you are getting ready for bed, there’s no way she couldn’t have seen this mess.”

Arion said nothing but stared into the pot. “Just brush the sand from neck to waist please, then I’ll explain the scraper.”

Bastien frowned, then looked at Arion in the mirror. Something was not right.

Arion hissed as the scraper moved down his back, loosening up the rest of stuck on scales and dirt. It took several individual sanding and scraping passes before the debris was gone. Bloodstains covered the damp towel, and the tube of medi-gel from the first aid kit was close to being depleted before they finished.

Arion slid into a clean pair of leather pants, then bent to pick up the dirt-covered mat. “I thank you for your assistance.”

“No thanks needed, Arion. You do, however, need to talk to Elise about this before it happens again.”

Arion didn’t answer, only blinked and walked from the bathroom carrying the loaded mat to take outside and clean.

Bastien waited until the door shut behind Arion before he went to find Elise. He doubted Arion would tell her just how bad things were, but he had no qualms in telling his daughter that her husband needed her help.

* * *

“Hey Dad, the food’s in the warmer. Are you done?”

Bastien nodded, then took Elise by the elbow to lead her away from where Kathrine poured coffee into several mugs sitting on the counter.

“Elise, did you know Arion’s back was a torn and bloody mess?”

Elise’s mouth dropped open in shock, “What?”

“When I walked into the bathroom, he was standing at the counter on a mat with blood dripping down his back. It was a right mess; torn scales, some of them partially ripped off, junk built up under some of them so they were pushing out from his skin. How could you have missed it?”

Elise’s light bronze skin flushed with embarrassment. “I- we… he’s usually changed and in bed before I finish the paperwork. It’s dark when I get my stuff and change in the bathroom. He said nothing. He has said little of anything to me for a week now.”

“Elise… he can’t do that sort of thing by himself. Even I could see that. And I’ve only seen what he has to do to his back this one time. It’s a miracle we didn’t need to take him to the hospital to have it done. It will be an even bigger miracle if he doesn’t scar up from the mess.”

“It was that bad? After only a week?”

Bastien nodded with a severe frown on his face. “It was that bad, Elise. He must have been in great pain every waking moment. I used nearly the entire tube of medi-gel on his back to stop the bleeding and heal the sores and tears. Take better care of him.”

Elise looked down at her feet, “I called the Soul Mate counselor today to see if they knew of something we could adapt for him to use.”

Bastien shook his head. “Whether or not he could use it alone shouldn’t matter, Elise. He can’t see all of his back at one time to make sure he removes it all. You’ve got to help him. He told me drell males take care of each other to make sure they’re clean and smoothed. It’s your responsibility to make sure he’s healthy. And cleaning his back is something you need to do.”

Elise sighed, “I’ll go talk to him.”

“Elise, I don’t know what is going on here, and I suppose it’s not any of my business, but you need to remember he’s far from his people. Raised and taught differently than you have. He needs you most of all. You’ve got to open up to him. He knew nothing about what they expect of you, and by now he should have. You’ve been mated to him for a while now and explained the conditions of having a child to him and not just sprung on him when he was already having problems as it is.”

Elise nodded in acknowledgment of her father’s reprimand and hurried back to the kitchen. She saw Arion sitting at the table in his usual spot with her mother setting various bowls filled with their delivery order on the table.

“So, Arion, I don’t know if Elise had them deliver food from the restaurant before, but the Lily Shack is well-known for their fine foods and garnished with edible flowers. She said you didn’t consume most meats, only fish and shellfish. So we ordered plenty of their seafood dishes and flower salad,” Kathrine said as she placed a bowl of multiple colored flowers and greens in front of him. A large purple flower dominated the center of the salad, and he touched the white and yellow center of it.

“What is this?”

Elise sat next to him, “It’s a passiflora or passionflower. They used to grow wild in this part of the world, but because of the over-building of cities and lack of wildflower conservation, only a few places still have them. They need to be grown in greenhouses. They bear fruit after a few years, called passion fruits, and they’re fantastic too.”

Arion nodded and continued to look at the flower, “Thank you for the information, Mist...Via… Elise.”

Kathrine looked over at Arion when she heard the hesitant reply and his apparent confusion on what to call Elise.

Elise’s shoulders slumped a little, then she reached for his plate, “Let me fill your plate. What would you like to try?”

“Whatever you think I will like, Elise.”

Elise looked at him as he fiddled with his fork and pushed the salad greens around.

“Why don’t I give you a little of everything? If you like something, I’ll tell you what it is and the next time we order from here we’ll have a better idea of what to get.”

“All right.”

Kathrine looked at Bastien, and he shook his head.

Dinner was usually a boisterous affair with talking, clinking of silverware, and scraping of spoons against the bottom of serving bowls, but this time there was no such noise.

After cleaning up, Bastien told them they needed to get home and unpack but would be back tomorrow to return the car and they could show them the holos of their vacation. Elise nodded and Arion didn’t say much other than to thank them for dinner before wandering off to the upper level of the apartment.

“You need to talk to him, Elise. That is not the same Arion as the one from before we left to go on vacation,” Bastien said before kissing her cheek.

“We’ll talk tomorrow, Elise. If you need anything, call us,” her mother said before they left the apartment.


	16. Chapter 16

* * *

Elise walked up the short flight of stairs and saw the light in the bedroom go out. She glanced at the clock and saw it was barely seven in the evening.

She entered the bedroom and saw him in his usual spot, under the blankets and curled up facing the wall.

She rubbed her slightly damp palms on the thighs of her jeans and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Arion, I’m sorry for not understanding why you needed my help. I knew you were having issues, but I didn’t realize it was so bad. You said nothing.”

Arion lay quietly in the bed, and Elise sighed. “Arion, I can’t help if you don’t talk to me. You’ve been wandering around here not speaking, coming in here to go to bed right after dinner, and even at work you rarely talk anymore. What’s going on?”

Arion pulled on the covers a little but remained quiet.

“I don’t know what else to say or what you want to hear other than I’m sorry.”

She got up and started for the door.

“I’m alone here, Elise. I don’t belong here. You don’t want me. I have no one to talk to, no one to listen to. No one to understand what I need. Maybe you should send me back.”

“Back? To Kahje?”

“To my people and owner. The mistress at least wanted me as a breeder for her stable. Here…”

“Earlier you were worried I would replace you; now you want me to send you back? Is this about the baby?”

“No. Your father explained it.”

“Then what? I can’t read your mind, Arion.”

“I told you, Elise. They wanted me there; not in the same way as I want to be here, but at least someone wanted me.”

“Gods, Arion… this is about sex isn’t it?”

“Not sex, Elise. Bonding.”

“I don’t even know what that means, Arion because you don’t even talk to me anymore. I’m going to contact the Soul Mate board and see what the options are. If you want to go back, then go back. I’m tired of trying to figure you out. With all the other crap I have weighing on me, I don’t need this piled on top of it.”

Elise threw herself into her office chair and rubbed her forehead, then dialed the contact number for the Citadel office of the Soul Mate Project.

“This is the Soul Mate Project, support line, how may I direct your call?” the VI answering service said.

“I need to talk to my case counselor, Ms. Disava, about my soul mate.”

“Forwarding your request. Please have your omni tool ready to connect the call, thank you.”

Several minutes later she felt her omni tool vibrate, and she tapped several holo keys on her terminal. Saryx Disava appeared on the holo-screen.

“Ms. LaRue? What is wrong? Has something changed from this afternoon?”

Elise tapped her fingers on the desk and nodded, “Yes. I received some distressing news from my parents and it’s changed a few things. Arion took the news badly, and he’s been acting even stranger. Shifting from one mood to another.”

“What do you mean?”

Elise sighed and leaned back in her chair. “When he found out one stipulation of a relative’s will, he worried I would trade him for someone else. When my father explained to him, I wouldn’t do something like that, he seemed to calm down about it. Then later he grew quiet again, and a short time ago I found him in bed curled up in a ball. Now he wants me to send him back. He’s driving me crazy.”

Saryx frowned. “Give me a moment, Elise, while I contact the drell representative. This sounds like a rather specific issue concerning Arion since we’ve not received any other reports similar to yours.”

Elise gave her consent, then waited until Saryx contacted her again.

“Elise? This is Ikaru Haan, the drell representative to the Soul Mate Project. She reviewed the notes I sent her and has some questions for you before she makes a few suggestions.”

“Hello, Elise. First off, congratulations on finding your Soul Mate. It is unusual for a male drell to take so long in acclimating to new ownership… so to speak. The questions I ask may be a bit personal, but please be assured they are to help determine what may be causing the issues with Arion. Is it all right to continue?”

Elise nodded, “Sure, if it’s helping figure out what’s going on with him.”

Ikaru asked several questions concerning living arrangements, job, surroundings, and asked for more details on what happened with the reporter before tapping a thin, gray-colored finger on the table in front of her.

“These next questions will be personal. I am getting a clearer picture of what may be happening, but I need more information. Do you and Arion share a bed?”

Elise nodded.

“All right. I understand he’s had some issues with cleanliness recently. Do you also share time in the bathroom cleaning each other?”

Elise’s face flamed, and she shook her head. “No. I prefer not to share the bathroom. We’ve been looking into trying to find something which would work for him better since he’s not able to use the tools the Project provided him with.”

Ikaru frowned. “Has he suffered any injuries because of not being able to clean himself properly?”

Elise chewed the inside of her cheek and nodded. “My dad helped him earlier… he said Arion was bleeding and his scales were a mess and had a lot of buildup.”

The female sighed.

“One last question, Elise. This one is extremely important. I’ve read over the documents provided to you concerning the drell race and noticed a few items missing from them which I believe should be added, especially after this case. Has Arion been able to complete the bond with you?”

Elise frowned. “I don’t know what you mean. Arion mentioned something about bonding, but won’t tell me what it is. All he talked about before is wanting me to claim him or bond with him so he’d feel like a Suinima. Ever since I met him, it’s been nothing but him wanting sex. I know he was a breeder, and that’s all his duties consisted of, I’m not upset about that. What’s upsetting me is he keeps bugging me about it, and I have to keep telling him I’m not ready. Then this whole thing with me having to have a baby soon just tipped things over the top. First, he was afraid of me trading him in for someone else, then he was upset because he thought I’d have sex with someone else to get pregnant, now he’s moaning to send him back because he doesn’t feel like he belongs here because he has no one to talk to or understands him. He’s driving me nuts.”

Ikaru held up her hand, “I think I understand what’s happening and there is more here than just a single problem. We’ll tackle one thing at a time. I’ll go over what I feel is the issue and give you a few ways of dealing with it.

“The first thing you need to know and understand is most male drell are highly social beings. They need contact with others to feel safe and happy. That doesn’t just mean talking to someone now and again in passing or when working. You are his Viama, his soul mate and wife. It is you which he needs the most. It is contact with you both physically and emotionally which helps keep him balanced.

“What you have described to me is what we refer to as becoming disconnected. Drell believe our soul and body work as two separate things. Working in harmony with each other and we are whole beings, but when one is ill or injured, or if our soul becomes traumatized or disrupted, then we are no longer whole but disconnected. This is what I believe has happened to Arion, or is close to happening to him.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Drell believe the soul and body work together. When we are happy and healthy, we are whole. When one is sick, injured, or traumatized then we are not and the body works separate from the soul and does what it wills. We fall into solipsism more often, we do not seem to care about anything or anyone. Due to the pain and trauma he has endured from the neglect to his body he started to use solipsism to escape the pain and loneliness of his life. He disconnected.”

“How do I fix it?”

“Fixing it is difficult and sometimes cannot be accomplished. It is exceedingly rare in the household males because they have other males to talk with, they take care of each other, and keep each other whole, even when the rare injury happens. I think a place to start would be to tell him you are beginning to understand him. You need to help him in his daily cleansing and apply the lotion to his body so he can take comfort in your touch.

“Of larger concern to me is why the bonding has failed.”

Elise sighed and threw up her hands, “Will someone tell me what the hell the whole bonding thing is? How can I do it if I don’t have any freaking clue what it is?”

Ikaru’s eye ridges drew together, “When you are having intercourse, has he not brought you to orgasm? Is there a medical issue you didn’t notify the Board about concerning your sexual health?”

“Huh?”

“The bonding should have already happened unless you are not allowing him to finish after you reach your own orgasm or if you aren’t physically capable of having one. His medical files show the inhibitor was successfully removed and the screening he had before being released into your care showed he had already stored enough of the jalei chemical to complete an initial bond. The inability to release the jalei could also factor into the disconnection issue if he feels like it is his fault he could not please you sexually.

“Even though Arion was trained as a breeder and not a Pashi he should still be more than capable of bringing a partner to orgasm.”

Elise blushed and looked down at the table.

“The local Soul Mate office can run the scanners and tests again if you have been able to, but he can not. Perhaps something in the environment has affected him or perhaps there is another reason he cannot reach his own orgasm and it is causing the failure.”

Elise covered her eyes with her hand as she mumbled they hadn’t had sex.

“What was that, Elise? I couldn’t understand you,” Ikaru said.

Elise sighed, “I said we haven’t had sex.”

Ikaru blinked. “I do not understand. He is sexually compatible with you. Do you find his appearance too different from a human male to respond? Or perhaps you are not attracted to males? If that is the case, perhaps there is a medical intervention we can do to allow him to bond to you to ease his condition. In order to help, I need more information.”

“Why can’t you both understand I don’t want to have sex yet? It’s not that I find him unattractive or unappealing. I don’t want to.”

“Oh… I see. A human’s custom? In drell society when a new breeder, Pashi, or male who was granted a Covenant is brought into our home, we solidify their place in the male hierarchy. We bond husbands and bondable Pashi on the evening of their purchase. Breeders, on the other hand, cannot bond until they produce a certain amount of children and placed on the auction block. After purchase they have their inhibitor removed and perform the binding ritual a few hours later, once they had enough time to produce the chemical needed.”

Ikaru waved her hand, “Though if you do not wish to bond this night, at least begin to heal him by taking better care of him. Your touch will help, your willingness to show care should ground him and keep him from becoming completely disconnected. Hopefully soon, you will allow the bonding so he will feel safe and secure in your home, and with your relationship; it should also help with the binding of your souls.

“Do you have any other questions?”

“What if he insists on going back to Kahje and his owner?”

The female shook her head. “Impossible. Part of the agreement between the Drell Conclave and the Soul Mate project prohibits the return of the males. They can petition to get unbound status. It would be like a human’s divorce, but they can not return to their previous owners, be bought by another, or enter into a Covenant with anyone. They would be on their own. They could have other relationships, even living with the person, but they couldn’t marry or bond.”

Elise rubbed her face and thanked her for the information.

“If anything else arises or you need more information, please contact me through your counselor. If Arion needs help, he can also do the same. Good evening, Elise.”

Elise sighed and shut off all the lights before heading back to the bed.

Arion lay in the same position he was in earlier. He twitched only slightly when she said he could go back if he wanted, but he’d be unbound and couldn’t return to his old mistress as a breeder. He’d have to learn to survive on his own.

“I’m sorry, Arion. We’re just going to have to try our best. I learned a bit more about your people tonight and received some advice. I’ll try to do better at taking care of you from now on. Good night.”


	17. Chapter 17

  
Elise sat on the edge of the bed after a restless night. She glanced over her shoulder at Arion, who was pulling one of the drell suits out of the closet.

“Arion? We need to talk about the stuff I learned last night from the Project and also about what happened to your back. I honestly didn’t realize it would get so bad. Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?”

Arion paused in front of the bedroom doorway. “A male drell follows the wishes of his female. You did not wish to share the bath time, and your disgust at the sight of my body shedding and differences was quite clear. I had no wish to further distress you.”

Elise looked down at her feet, then rubbed her forehead as he rushed from the room and toward the bathroom to change into his clothes.

She saw him standing in front of the living room window, looking out again as she went to the kitchen to make breakfast.

“My mom and dad will be by later to go over the things they purchased for us. Then they’ll watch the shop while we finish work in the greenhouse.”

“As you wish.”

Elise tried not to sigh. “Breakfast is ready.”

* * *

  
Arion tried to stay in the backroom to make packets and count the inventory again, but Elise wouldn’t have it.

“You know down to the last miniature card and envelope what we have back there. Plus, we have enough packets made to last us two months. I would have to make another batch of supplement if you tried to make more of them today. I don’t feel like locking myself in the room to make it right now. We need to talk, to spend more time together. The counselor said we need to do everything we can to get through this. She told me her concern is with something she referred to as disconnection, and it rarely happens to household drell.”

Arion frowned, “Disconnection. When our soul and body no longer work as one.” He paused as he held a lily in his hands and stared down at the bright orange and yellow flower. “Yes. Disconnection.”

He startled at her touch on his arm. “She said we can keep it from getting worse and maybe heal it by talking again. I’m willing to try it if you are.”

Arion placed the lily in the vase and reached for a bright-red carnation in the transport cooler.

“I do not know, Elise. Your wishes and way of life are different, and it is painful to follow certain ones.”

Elise stroked his forearm, “My father told me about your back. I truly am sorry, Arion. I never wanted to cause you any pain. I thought it would be like mine where you just run a sponge on a stick over it and it gets clean. I didn’t realize you would become damaged and in such pain from not having someone tend it like you were used to.”

Arion placed several more flowers into the vases before he gave a shallow nod. “All right, Elise. If you are willing to try, then so will I. I want to be whole again.”

She squeezed his forearm, then went to turn on the open sign.

* * *

  
Elise rolled her eyes as the baker from next door came through the door around noon.

“Hello, Elise. I see you’re doing a brisk business today.”

Elise nodded and watched as the woman smiled and waved to Arion. “Well, hello there. It’s finally good to meet you. I’m Mariah, I own the bakery next door,” she said and held out her hand.

“Good afternoon. I’m Elise’s husband, Arion. Accept my apologies, but I do not allow anyone to touch me other than my family and those with whom I feel close without express consent by my wife.”

The woman’s smile faltered.

“It is taboo in his culture for a woman to touch a male who isn’t part of their household or under contract with.”

“Oh, well, I’m sure you won’t mind letting me give him a welcome hug,” Mariah stepped forward and Elise slid neatly between her and a retreating Arion.

“Actually, no. It makes him very uneasy and I can’t let you touch him.”

“Humph, well that’s not very neighborly.”

Elise shrugged. “Neighborly or not, it’s his culture and I’m trying to balance his with ours, but we strictly adhere to this one so he will feel comfortable.”

“Well, anyway, I just stopped by to tell you I’m having a sale tomorrow and would like to buy one of your flower bouquets to place on the counter. Nothing real big, but something to brighten up the area and draw the eye to my more expensive pastries.”

“We have a few new flowering plants. They’ll last longer if you take care of it, and you’ll not have to buy a bouquet each time you hold a sale. We have some new ones Arion chose and has taken care of. They’re exotic flowers from Thessia and are lovely.”

Mariah tapped her fingers on the counter. “I suppose I can look.”

Arion brought out two of the rare plants from Thessia and placed them on the counter. Mariah looked over the first plant; a small, dark-green leafy one with a white stem holding a blue flower with five petals and a bright red stamen.

The second planter contained a blue-leafed plant with three orange and two yellow flowers. Each had three large, triangular petals with a long green stamen.

“Hmm, I don’t know. I’m not sure about keeping a plant for a long time, and these look expensive. Perhaps if Arion would come by daily and tend to it, I’d be more than willing to make such an expensive purchase.”

“I understand. Tending plants can be a lot of work. Arion and I have so many to take care of as it is that we can’t possibly go to other locations to tend ones for customers. Why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for in a bouquet? I’ll put it together for you while Arion puts the houseplants back in the display.”

After Mariah left carrying a tiny bouquet Arion tipped his head to Elise, “I do not understand. She said she wanted something to attract attention to her goods, yet the ones she picked out looked small and will barely be noticed.”

Elise starting laughing. “She wasn’t here for the flowers, Arion. Mariah was here for you. She has a reputation with the men around here, married or not, of being available for sex. The more devoted a man is to his wife, the more she goes out of her way to attract his attention. Centuries ago, we would have called her a home-wrecker. Now, well, the regular customers and the couples who live around here usually avoid her unless they’re single or gay.”

“Oh. So when I told her I wouldn’t touch her, it made her more determined to attract me?”

Elise shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s possible. Or she could stop trying. We won’t know until she stops by the shop again. Or rings the access bell for the apartment.”

Arion wiped the bouquet table down and glanced over at Elise several times, “Did she do the same to your Jean-Paul?”

Elise paused for a moment as she used a mister bottle to spray a row of mint plants. “He was never my Jean-Paul. It wasn’t until after the trial when she came up to me and smiled a conciliatory smile while telling me he wasn’t my type. He was a vigorous lover, she said, and he needed someone who could keep up with him. I stood in shock as she continued to tell me how he liked it rough and was tired of always trying to be gentle. She said she enjoyed giving him what he wanted after I went to the greenhouse and he came to her bed. Then she patted my shoulder and told me I was better off finding a different man and he wasn’t worth my time. I didn’t know what to say to her.”

“She is another reason you will not mate with me isn’t it? It worries you that you would disappoint me and I’d turn to someone else.”

Elise didn’t look over at him. She gave a small startled squeak when she felt his hands on her waist and his breath in her ear.

“A bonded male is not attracted to another female. It is impossible for me to want or respond to another woman once I’m bound to you. They could stand in front of me fully unclothed and I wouldn’t be interested. It will be only your touch I crave, your body. I want to slide deep into. Claiming and bonding me will make me whole again, Viama. It will take away my disconnection. And heal you as well.”

The doorbell chimed, and she hurried away from him to help the customer who walked through the door.

* * *

They stood in the greenhouse going over all the plants they wanted to separate and sell or keep for cultivars when her omni tool chimed.

“Elise, you might want to come down to the store. A courier just brought something from the Horticultural Society.”

“I’ll be right there.”

She stripped off her gardening gloves.

“Come on, Arion. I think the Society finally accepted my special roses into their registry.”

“Then you will begin selling them? It may mean more business?”

“It should bring in a lot more business. At least, once I’m ready to sell them in the store. We only have five full-size blooming plants and ten which are still growing. The small ones I will sell to collectors; those who have extensive rose gardens, because they will pay a very large sum of credits for new specimens. The sale of even half the ones growing should allow me to pay the Project back in full for your purchase. From there I can use the money to pay off the conversion loan on the building and upgrade our greenhouse and store. Maybe even take a vacation.”

Arion followed her out of the greenhouse and down the security stairwell to the back door of the shop.

Her mother met her in the stockroom and handed her a thick envelope.

“Read it,” Kathrine said excitedly.

Elise’s hands shook as she slid her finger under the seal of the Horticultural Society and opened the letter. She scanned it, then started reading.

“The board members of the Royal Horticultural Society wish to thank you for your submission. After thoroughly testing the specimen and reviewing the results, we are proud to accept the Evening Sky Blue Rose as the first-ever pure blue rose. This is a wonderful achievement that many have attempted but never succeeded in. The specimen you sent is safely ensconced in the Royal Gardens.

“Enclosed is your registration certificate. We also patented the bloom in your name and sent the registration information to the Plant Breeder’s Society and updated the listings for the Earth Wide Horticulturist Network. The plant and your specific bloom coloration are protected for the next one hundred years at which time you or your descendants must register it again if you want to keep the patent or allow for other growers to clone the rose and sell it under a different product name. The trade name will, however, remain permanently registered to you. Congratulations on a spectacular bloom and we hope you will continue to experiment and create more incredible offerings.”

Kathrine started to squeal, and Arion blinked at her. “You did it, honey. I’m so proud of you.”

Elise wiped away several tears and breathed a sigh of relief. “This will put Whimsical Bloom on the map, Mom. No more struggling to make ends meet and scrimping to pay the bills.”

“Let’s celebrate tonight. I’ll call Mama Cleo and tell her the good news,” Kathrine said and hugged Elise before hurrying back into the store to pass the information on to Bastien.

“I am confused, Elise.”

“About what?”

“I know it’s important to protect the plants, but why go to such length? The Matriarch who grows the lace flowers doesn’t have such a process. She simply asked you not to make lotions or anything.”

“Ah. Well, humans have always liked to take something someone else invented and try to pass it off as their own, or make a cheap imitation and charge outrageous prices, then when it’s discovered it’s not the real thing, the people who purchased the fake thing is stuck.

“The roses are a lifetime achievement. Well, strictly speaking, several lifetimes. My great-grandmother continued decades-long research started by others on why most plants do not have the blue gene in them, then expanded on it. She centered her research on how to add the gene into the plant but keep the characteristics of a natural rose. She then passed the knowledge and special graphing technique to my grandmother, who then passed it onto me. It took the family many years to create it. After so many others failed in their lifetimes to do it. Unless they used additional manipulation or violet compounds and gene splices to create a single plant which would never retain its appearance when grown from seed. None ever occurred naturally until now.”

“I still do not fully understand, but I am thrilled for you,” he said.

She smiled up at him and he blinked as he sighed.

Her smile faded, “What was the sigh for?”

“You will be very busy now, Elise, will there be time to do what we discussed earlier?”

“We will work together in the greenhouse and shop the same as before, nothing is going to change. Come on, let’s go finish up. I’ll contact several of the collectors and see what I’m offered. Then we need to get ready to eat.”

Arion groaned and rubbed his stomach. “The food is so spicy.”

Elise laughed and tugged on his arm, “At least you have a filled sprayer this time.”

* * *

  
It was Elise’s turn to sigh as she stood outside the bathroom door. Arion was inside cleaning his scales before they went to dinner, and Elise was debating with herself on whether she should offer to help.

She reached out and knocked on the door. “Arion? Would you like help with your back?”

There was a long pause as he hesitated, then said yes.

She opened the door and saw him standing on the mat, holding the sand brush in his hand.

“I am nearly finished, Elise, but having my back done and the lotion put on it will help the scars to heal faster.”

“Oh, Arion,” she said with a horrified tone to her voice as she saw the damage to his back.

“If I can keep it clean and the scales conditioned, it will begin repairing during the sheds. It will take a few years without medical intervention, but it will eventually fade.”

“Medical intervention?”

He handed her the brush as he nodded. “Yes, the doctors at the Project healed one of the other males after his mistress whipped him for failing to impregnate her.”

“I thought it was unlawful to harm one of you.”

“It is. She forfeited all the males owned by her, paid the male a substantial sum of credits, and has to pay for his healing and mental therapy. She can no longer own any males, and they monitor any breeding or mating contracts with males.”

Elise brushed the sand along his spine and frowned as she saw the deep grooves in his scales and the bruised patches of still-healing skin under them. “Maybe we should contact them to see if they can heal this. I don’t want you to have to go through years of pain because I was an idiot.”

“It doesn’t matter, Elise.”

She frowned again and looked at him in the mirror. “It matters, Arion. I’ll call the representative to see if they have the equipment here to do it.”

“But the funds from the sale of your roses were to go for other things.”

She waved the sand brush around before dipping it back into the bowl.

“We planted several more seeds from the original plant which had gone through the stratification process with more in the cooling area processing now. It will only be a few weeks before the ones which sprout can be set aside to grow in my fertilizer mix and be ready in as little as a year to sell. Once we get plenty in stock, we can begin making cuttings which will grow faster. Then again, I may just limit the sale of the actual rose bush. Have them as cut roses for floral arrangements which would cut down on how much time and space we would need to dedicate to them.”

She shrugged as she ran the rubber scraper down his back. “We’ll see. I’ve got so much to do and take care of and so little time to do it in.”

Elise passed the scraper back to him. “There, I think I got it all.”

He turned unexpectedly, and she took a step back.

“Thank you, Elise. The last step is the lotion, which will condition the scales and skin. Would you rub it in?”

She swallowed and nodded. He took a step closer and leaned toward her. Her eyes dropped to his mouth as she thought he was going to kiss her. Instead, he reached behind her for a large bottle sitting in the metal holders on the wall.

“Here. From neck to waist only in one direction or you’ll damage the scales.” His voice buzzed with a new tone as he handed her the lotion bottle.

She nodded, and he slowly turned around when she made no move other than to open the cap on the bottle.

Elise squeezed cream-colored lotion in her hand and lifted it to his shoulder. He shivered slightly as she ran her hand over his shoulder blade and down to his waist. His muscles bunched and she could feel the vibrations from the humming noise he made through her palm.

She paused as he shuddered when her lotion covered hand slid down to his waist again. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. Don’t stop, please.”

He shivered as her hand spread the lotion on the next section of his back.

When he groaned and started shaking, she stopped. “I’m hurting you, aren’t I?”

He hissed and turned toward her. “It will only hurt if you stop touching me, Viama,” he said and placed both her lotion covered hands on his chest before he closed his eyes and moved her hands downward in a caress.

“Mm,” he moaned as he moved her hands back to his shoulders and slid them down his chest and abs to his waist. “This Viama; use the lotion and do this.”

“I don’t know if this is such a good idea, Arion,” she whispered as he pressed her hands against his flesh and held them there.

“I need you, Viama. The pain isn’t only because of my back. My body needs to release a chemical that builds up to create the bond between us when we mate.”

Elise frowned as he continued to move her hands over his chest and arms. She swallowed and looked up at him. “Turn back around Arion and let me finish your back. I still need to shower, so if you promise to close your eyes until I tell you otherwise while you lotion the rest of your body, I’ll shower. Maybe you can tell me more about your life on Kahje while I do.”

Arion shuddered and gripped her hands for a moment before he nodded and turned, “As you wish, Mistress.”

Elise touched his back with a soft pat, “I’m your wife, not your mistress, Arion.”

“Of course.” Arion gripped the edge of the countertop and tried to suppress the sounds of his enjoyment of her touching him.

“Close your eyes, Arion,” she said and turned on the shower. She waited until his eyes closed and his head drooped before dropping the robe and almost slamming the door to the shower stall in her hurry to get inside.

Elise wet her hair and body as quickly as she could. After pushing the button on the shower panel for cleanser and waiting for it to work, she asked, “What is Khaje like?”

“It rains there constantly. The Drell Conclave is enclosed in several domes to protect us from the weather. They are built on enormous floating platforms connected by transportation tubes.”

“I remember you saying something about the weather. What was the dome like where you lived?”

Arion paused as he thought about it. “The eastern dome is the largest market dome. All goods and services can be bought or sold there. Part of the Sariffika festival is held on the streets, though the main auction house and marriage market are located in the main dome.”

Elise wiped the water from her face before shutting off the shower. “What’s the Sariffika?”

Arion closed the cap on the large bottle of lotion and glanced into the fogged mirror. The humidity wasn’t very welcoming to his kind, but he would stay in the bathroom forever if they could continue to share the space and talk. “The Sariffika is a week-long festival celebrating the Hanar’s rescue of the Drell people from certain extinction. Outsiders aren’t invited, nor do they know about it. You are my Viama and Soul Mate. It is the only reason I’m answering the question. The Sariffika comprises overflowing market stalls, items, and foods from around the Conclave being sold at exorbitant prices… at least that is what my Mistress always said.

“The lower tier breeders, farmworkers, household staff, and those past their prime years would be sold at auction for good prices. They would sell those left-over on a private auction block. High tiered breeders, those still in the prime breeding age and health would be sold at the main dome house. The sons of royalty would be sold or traded on the marriage market.”

The shower door opened just enough for Elise to reach out and grab the towel hanging on the wall. “They really sell you guys at an auction like we do used furniture or unwanted items? The representative mentioned it, but I didn’t understand half of what she said.”

Arion tipped his head. “The males sold there go to lower caste females looking for a husband, or the Matriarch’s looking to increase their business or household staff members. I do not believe we are the same as a piece of outgrown furniture.”

Elise had her doubts. She bent down and retrieved her robe and put it on over the towel she wrapped around her, then turned her back to him and wiggled until she could remove the towel and close the robe without him seeing her.

“Why do you hide from me?” He whispered next to her ear, and she jumped as she clutched the robe tighter. Arion tucked his head into the crook between her shoulder and ear and inhaled. “Mm, your skin is warm with a hint of flowers.” She shivered as his lips grazed the small area of skin right below her ear.

“They’re waiting for us, Arion. We should hurry and dress, then get to Rémi’s place before it gets too dark to see well.”

“Can we not stay home, Viama? Talk… touch… bond… heal each other?”

“No, Arion. Besides knowing Rémi, he’s sent out his cousin to play Loup Garou tonight just to tease you. We shouldn’t disappoint him by not showing up and acting surprised or scared when we hear the howling or catch the glimpses of an enormous wolf which walks upright like a man.”

Arion sighed and brushed his lips against her neck one last time before moving away enough for her to reach the doorknob and open the door.

**Author's Note:**

> *~*
> 
> Translation for Drell words:
> 
> Toku Kuia-- refers to the Matriarch of the household  
Tuatahi-- refers to the male head of household, in charge of the males  
Suinima - First Husband  
Secunima - Second Husband  
Tarotunima - Third Husband  
Viama - Wife

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Born Yours](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21531985) by [pinkSALMON](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkSALMON/pseuds/pinkSALMON)


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